>> congress is back in session today at 2:00 p.m. eastern after a weeklong break. the house will consider several bills following the capitol grounds to be used for various upcoming defense. they will clear the way for the development of the washington, d.c., waterfront. the senate returns today to consider a bill to keep student loan rates from dublin in july. also a public judicial nominations -- to keep student loan at rates from dublin in july. also at a public judicial nominations. this afternoon, a meeting to examine the plan dripless automatic spending cuts called a budget sequester with alternative cuts proposed by various committees. c-span3 will have live coverage of that beginning at 2:00 p.m. eastern. queen elizabeth owens british

parliament this week. she will outline the government's priorities for the coming year to both the house of lords and the house of commons. we will have live coverage of that courtesy of the bbc wednesday morning starting at 5:30 a.m. eastern. >> when it comes to privacy for american citizens, corporate liability, and the ability to share information, when we look at protecting court critical infrastructure, good enough is not enough. >> what is the future for u.s. cyber security? tonight, the white house cyber security administrator on the administration's concerns in reaction to the cyber bills in congress. 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> vice president joe biden on the violence against women act. he spoke friday at the ywca national conference about renewing the law which would reauthorize more than six under $50 million in programs. the act -- more than $650 million in programs. his comments are about 40

minutes. [applause] >> good afternoon. i am the ywca usa ceo. i would like to welcome you to the ywca usa 2012 annual conference. this afternoon, we have in the room 400 ywca leaders. [applause]

representing a 77,000 staff and volunteers and the two million people millionywca serves -- people the ywca serbs around the country. we're joined by the coalition of human needs and organizations on the national task force to end sexual and domestic violence against women. partners in our effort to pass the reauthorization of the violence against women act. [cheers and applause] also with us today are four brave women who are survivors of domestic violence and currently live in our transitional housing in york, pennsylvania. [applause]

i welcome all of you, and i would like us to take a moment to celebrate our victory last week because in at the senate, the bipartisan reauthorization bill was passed 68-31. [applause] in the audience today is someone who worked tirelessly to make that happen. i would like to salute a friend of the ywca and a champion for addressing issues of domestic violence and sexual assault with in the whole executive branch and across the nation. please join me in recognizing and thinking lynn rosenfeld, the white house adviser on of

violence against women. -- lynn rosenthall. [applause] now, it is my great pleasure to introduce someone who has dedicated his life and career to public service and to making our world a better, safer, and more civil place for all of us. he has held elective office for over 40 years. [laughter] was i not supposed to say that? >> unfortunately, it is true. >> he became a u.s. senator in 1972. it was during the 1970's and the 1980's that the battered women's

movements began, and a handful of rape crisis centers plug in their first hot line phones. the ywca was often the sole shelter in many communities that would take in women who were too ashamed to call for help. in the late 1980's, our speaker began investigating the issue of domestic and sexual violence. it was frustrating that there was no way to bring the hodgepodge of an adequate state and local laws, as well as in secure funding programs, to the attention of a national audience. but he did not give up. in 1990, he brushed the creation of a bill to address this epidemic -- he pushed the creation of a bill to address this epidemic that had no name, if you solutions, and a lot of casualties, usually women and children. so began the journey towards the

passage of the violence against women act, the 1994 law that committed our nation into addressing the domestic violence, sexual assault, sta lking, and dating violence impacting women all across the u.s. that senator had very few allies in those early years, either inside or outside congress. the ywca is proud that we were at his side back then and continue today to promote his vision that our society will one day be free of this scourged on women and their families. [applause] many of the groups in this room where with us as well, and we

applaud them. despite little support, he simply kept at what he wanted to achieve with characteristic passion, zeal, and fervor. stories of his persistence and dedication are legend. he tracked senators down and during their early morning swim. [laughter] he cajoled crusty old men who thought he was making up the problem. he lobbied on his daily train ride home to wilmington. he corralled folks in the clinton administration to look at the issue. he charmed orrin hatch into being his chief republican co- sponsor. [laughter] [applause] i said he is hard to resist.

[laughter] even fort orrin hatch. and he met on a regular basis with a small party coalition of groups working to get the bill passed. he held hearings, and then he held more hearings and more hearings. and with 67 senate sponsors, he sheltered the bill's passage in the senate. and he kept things i attacked during the crime bill negotiations in conference during the summer of 1994. and then he took the stage with president clinton to make sure he signed the bill that included the violence against women act. he was and remains our champion and a genuine and caring, straight talking, guy next door. it is now my privilege to introduce the vice president of the united states, joe biden.

[cheers and applause] >> gloria, thank you very much. thank you all very much. [applause] thank you. thank you very much. gloria, thank you. -- jenny marino is here where are you? there you are. jenny and i and her family go back a long way. thank you for all you do. isd i understand gabby's mom here. well, she will be here tonight. speaking of a remarkable woman. look, folks, i want to begin by just thinking you. it is engine when honor, a

genuine honor to be about to be here with you. -- it is ag when honor to be here with you. thank you for those kind comments. you all are out there every single solitary day. every day, you are helping literally thousands upon thousands of women and girls who are struggling, in many cases just to feed themselves and their families, just to take care of their children, just to get a little bit of shelter, emotional as well as a physical shelter. in a lot of cases, you're helping these girls and women escaped the violence and making sure that they do not have to choose between a live on the street and a life back in prison in their home, a life of abuse. you know, sometimes some of my male friends and even some women think that i am to passionate about this. they think this is an exaggeration. they need to log a day in your

shoes -- they need to walk a day in your shoes to see what happens. this is real. it is one girl, one woman at a time. one at a time. and you are the only refuge so many, so many, many girls and women have. you have helped half a million abused girls and women, half a million. you have changed their lives fundamentally, and in many cases, you have saved their lives. that is not hyperbole. not only changed their lives, but in many cases, you literally saved their lives. and now you're out there helping, and my wife is still engaged in at this, helping female veterans return after a life of service. and by the way, we just had a reception at our home for these female service members who

volunteered to be on at these teams that go into -- pat, you were there at the house. these women volunteered to go in with these assault teams, into the villages, into afghanistan, because they are unable, the men are unable to come under the culture, to care for the women who may be in trouble in those villages. it is remarkable what they do. and i might add, we talk about people coming back with traumatic brain syndrome. women -- women have been exposed to that. people think that they are not in combat. well, they are in combat. and they see everything the men see. so now you have turned your focus on helping them come back into the community, and i cannot thank you in f for that. and you are turning women from -- and i cannot thank you enough

for that. and you're turning women from all walks of life into a community leaders. i used to have a friend that said the key to moving forward is you have got to know how to know. sounds silly, doesn't it? this guy was a hell of a basketball player, not the brightest one at the table, but he knew life. you have got to know what you know. look at the women you grew up with. the women i have known, the girls that i have known as a kid -- if you had to come up with the distinguishing feature that distinguished them from the success you have, in a significant number of cases, it is just that they did not have a chance to be exposed to the possibilities, exposed to the opportunities. when you get exposed, you figure out quickly -- well, i can do that. that woman is not that much smarter than i.

that guy is not that much smarter than i am. it is just that they have never seen at the opportunities. and women and men vote, young kids, they have to kind of taste it, feel it, and just did -- women and men both. that is what you do. almost every woman i know has a story about the ywca. a class they attended, a circumstance they were exposed to, a circumstance they were rescued from, or a story about how they were able to serve, how they got engaged, how they got sucked in. [laughter] you all reminded that famous story they tell about henry ford. he went to ireland in his first trip after he had begun the incredible wealth the man that he was, and he landed and the

lord high mayor of dublin was there to greet him at all the dignitaries, and they walked him and got him to his hotel room. they said, by the way, we have this drive for a children's hospital that we're building, and we wondered if you might want to help. he sat down and wrote a check, if my memory is right, for $5,000, a great deal of money. they said thank you, and the next morning ford woke up in his hotel room, and the headline said henry ford contributes $500,000. the next thing he knew, there was a knock on the door by the lord mayor, and they said, we're so sorry, and we will print a retraction immediately. [laughter] and he said, so the story goes, coming in. come in. he sat down and wrote a check for whatever the remainder was, $495,000, and he said, on one

condition, i want engraved on the portico whatever i want. they said, no problem. he said this is what i want, i came, new, and you took me in. -- i came among you, and you took me in. [laughter] [applause] all a woman has to do is come among you, and you will take her in, just like my daughter who is a social worker. you are an incredible group of women. i am so proud this is not hyperbole to say this. i am so proud to call you might friends. you all are my friends. these dark, when i was a kid, these are the girls, when i was a boy, you were the boys. you are the women. i want to tell you, jenny, your dad -- i know where you get your commitment from.

not just your mom, but your dad as well. jenny can tell you i have been involved with the ywca since i came back from wilmington after law school. in delaware, that is worthy ywca was and is. and i can tell you that if i had any question about wandering from a flock, my 29-year-old daughter reminds me. i have a daughter who is the love of my life and the life of my love. my wife says that she owns me. she does. and i do not mind the ownership. but my daughter is a -- when she called me, she said, daddy, there is going to be a meeting down in washington, and i hope you can attend. i said, i cannot, i am not supposed to be there. she said, daddy -- i said, ok,

you got it done. so you have her on the board now. she is a social worker and got her master's degree from penn. and i get these phone calls -- daddy, my people -- [laughter] [applause] i am not joking. my people. i said, honey, they are my people, too. she says, i know. but you have to do more. so you have a mole in the office here. i know from firsthand experience in my home town how much we have achieved together. i also know from working with the national organization how much more we can accomplish. it is actually kind of level at less what we can do. we're working together for reorganizing the violence against women act. i want to thank you for breaking the logjam in the u.s. senate. here is the deal, we should not

even be having this debate. [applause] really. no, once a together we were able to lay out clearly for the american public, men and women, once we lay down the scope of the problems in the 1990's -- remember, this was the dirty little secret, the dirty little secret no one wanted to acknowledge ior talk about. women were, as your president said, ashamed to talk about it. our societal more's thrust upon the woman the presumption that it must have been something she did. o'hare that was the most significant barrier we broke through -- that was the most

significant barrier we broke through. once that was done and we did -- and i think orrin hatch. everybody kids about it, but i thank him for stepping up when he did. in their original violence against women act, only three republicans voted against this. he was taking a chance in the original vote. but what happened? through your incredible work, we laid out the scope of the problem, and we have had bipartisan support in every effort to reauthorize the we have had extended support because of the work you have done with american business. with all institutional structures all across the nation. now in a woman walks into the dupont company with a black eye, she is not going to have to say i walked into a door. before, she says here -- before she says i was hit by my husband or boyfriend, they would want

her to go because the last thing they wanted was trouble in the office. today, she is embraced in many big companies, and she gets help. you have done an incredible, incredible amount of work beyond the four corners of the document called the violence against women act. and if reauthorization is based on a result, usually if you agree authorize a bill in congress, what everybody does is a legitimate. they go back and say that bill is not working. before we authorize it, they say, is it working? is it meeting expectations? if it is based on a result, why are we even talking about this? [applause] for the press, the police departments now investigate these crimes and put people behind bars. annual rates of domestic violence in the u.s. have dropped by 60%.

states have passed over 700 laws to protect victims and hold offenders accountable. that was a gigantic problem 20 years ago. we set up a national hot line that answered more than two million calls and still respond to 23,000 calls a month. if i could get everyman in america and every woman to go -- every man in america and everywoman to go down to the hot line with me and do what we did when we were asking all the high tech companies, which they did, god love them, to step in and the biggest back of this high tech credibility so we did not drop women's calls -- last time i was down, i had them turn on one of the calls. and a young woman was on the phone saying, i am calling -- i need -- oh, my god, oh, my god, i see him. he is coming. i am is standing between a radio shack and -- she was trying to

figure it out, and gap. please, please. oh, god. that is the reality. and i love these people who say, why don't women had the courage to get up and leave? can you imagine the courage it takes to pick up that phone in the first place and make the call? [applause] we should all have so much courage. [applause] we also built a network with your help of specialized in -- a network of shelters, specialized law enforcement unit, specifically trained prosecutors. judges have been educated. literally, educated in classes.

look, from the outset, i must tell you to my single intention was to establish a basic principle in the law and in the civic culture of this country that no one, no girl should ever be victimized but purely because of her gender and the fact that a man had more physical or economic power. that is a matter of a cultural touchstone. that is what was in attendance. -- that is what was intended. i was confident and remain confident that once that principle was established and accepted by the vast majority of the american public that we would be abroad in the tools available to us to deliver on that principle. and that is why every subsequent reauthorization, we added an additional tools. we knew it -- we knew. pat and i knew from the

beginning that there was more we could have done in the first bill. but my purpose was to establish the principle, and once we did, we then started adding to the law. a definition of and dating violence, transitional housing programs, training for health care providers, help for women with disabilities, help for women in indian nation, protection for victims in public housing, programs to help children who witness violence at home. and now in the 2012 reauthorization, thanks to our co-sponsors of on the hill, the have added additional protection. it will help schools and colleges deal with dating violence because girls in the early 20's still face the highest rate of abuse have any women in america. law enforcement screening for domestic risk factors that we know lead to violence and domestic, said. it is also going to give the

police and prosecutors more tools and training to build stronger sexual assault places with victims and offenders when they know one another, because that is the place we have made the least progress, where a woman is victimized by an acquaintance or by a friend. look, the reauthorization passed the senate 68 votes to 31, and it was a great move forward. but we have one more real hurdle, and that is the house of representatives. and i hate to ask you -- i am always asking you for helping, but we need your help in here. we need your help in making sure that, as my mother would say, the real mc coy passes. the real violence against women act reauthorization act passes. [applause] i am confident that some in the house right now are scheming because they share the view, to my surprise, put forward by a

fairly solid republican united states senator, but he said it in a street fashion a couple weeks ago. he said, "obviously, you want to be for this title. if republicans cannot speak for it, we need to have a very convincing alternative." there is no convincing alternative. this is about a lot more than the title. [applause] it is about the content of the bill. [applause] and for that, with all due respect, there is no good alternative, because we know what real authorizing this bill means to hundreds of thousands of women and girls' in america. i gathered together, and some of the were there, a group of leading advocates for violence, including police departments and others, the national sheriffs

organization, church women united, and many others in the white house several weeks ago. i concluded by saying i think it is is something we should make clear to everyone. i said, and imagine the message it would send if this is not reauthorized. ask yourself, what message would this send to everyone of our daughters, every woman in prison in their own home? ask yourself, what would it say to them if we did not reauthorize this law? what would it say to our daughters, wives, and others about whether not they are entitled to respect and whether or not the government believes they are entitled to be free from violence? ask yourselves that. folks, listen. you all are not much more than gist the violence against women act, as important -- than just the violence against women act, as important as that is. you have done it so much more.

you have been involved in everything good that affects the white -- lives and expectations of young women, and you have been there for a long, long time. the ledbetter act, that was a huge step forward. now we need an equal pay act now. [applause] so that is why the president and i will be back on the paycheck fairness act. we just corrected a bad decision made by the supreme court. but, folks, we have got a lot more to do, because i do not want my granddaughter is growing up thinking that they should not complain when my grandson gets paid more for doing the same job that my grandmother -- granddaughter does. [applause] that is what the fairness act is all about, so women can actually find out if they are being discriminated against.

you are providing child care since the early 19s at the yw. i know my chapter back home has been telling me for over 30 years that you want an impact on the achievement gap, start educating boys and girls early. [applause] it is not just about early education. it is about the quality from early education. that is why i am so proud of what the president has recently done. you have been part of our effort to expand head start and improve the quality, demand more of a head start, like we are demanding more of all education in america. it is not sufficient that head start be just a click above the babysitting program. it has to be a lot more. early learning, we all know -- you have educated me. you have educated as over the years. early learning is critical to give these kids the tools they need as to how to learn. you know that so-called

achievement gap, it starts the day they step into school. if you come from low-income home, no matter what the ethnic background is, you're likely to have half the vocabulary of the same kid graduating from and to upper-middle-class held. that is what i call starting behind. that is the core of the achievement gap, and it could be closed front-end and could you have educated entire communities and the absolute necessity of the four care act. because of your stature, you have been able to break through the partisan gridlock and explain it to leaders of your communities why it is so critical that insurance companies not be able to charge a higher premium to is because you are women or just because you are pregnant or have a pre- existing condition. why deny coverage to that pregnant women? you have been a major part of educating communities have to understand how important it is for people to have access for detection for diseases like breast cancer, heart disease,

and diabetes ahead of time. detection. not only is it morally the right thing to do, it will save the nation hundreds of billions of dollars over time. you know, those are early detection services that people now have access to and can pay for, have paid for, and the affordable care act. having that preventive care available for the poor and underserved women not only matters to their health, it matters to their families. in many cases, they are the sole breadwinners in their families. so when they are ill, their children are in trouble, parenthetically, i want to also thank you for supported what i have traveled all over america trying to sell to some of our elected friends, and that is the need to save over 300,000 teachers jobs in the united states of america. [cheers and applause]

some are bleeding over how women are the most damaged by this got of a recession we inherited, but there is something we can do about it -- because, guess what, three-quarters of those laid off are women, and they have families. we have not given up on that, by the way. and, listen, because you're out there every day, you know that women are not only concerned about so-called women's issues. you know the economy is a women's issue. restoring the middle class is a women's issue. and i have got to tell you, i think this fight has only just begun. to my surprise, and i might add, disappointment, the other team, the other boy, the other folks there in congress -- let me be very blunt with you, this is not your father's republican party. [laughter] the other team, and i hope many of you are republicans, because what we need is a republican party. we need a real republican party. but the other team is taking on

virtually every one of the initiatives you and i and the president had -- have saw -- have fought so hard to give girls and women a level playing field. to my surprise and his point, the other team in congress has signed on a thing called the ryan budget which would either eliminate or even streets of the things you have fought for but they say it is done in the name of fiscal responsibility, which i would like to point out to you is simply not true. the reason it has to be done is to accommodate the next 10 years of $2 trillion in additional tax cuts for the wealthy. they have to find the money summer, and when they find it is by cutting medicare by more than a third -- they have to find it somewhere. they cut food stands and call for an 90% across-the-board cut in all so-called domestic discretionary programs. you well know what is in the discretionary budget. education.

head start. job training. public housing. the food stamp program. and you know as well as i do, folks, what is being proposed is not just about 19% across the board. past is prologue, especially for these guys. you know where they're not going to cut 19% across the board to pay for this but you know they are going to cut one had to be sent out of many programs and none out of others. unhoped they are not leaving because i am speaking. -- i hope they are not leaving because i am speaking. it is because i am is supposed to have a picture taken with them. [laughter] you're looking at them like, where are they going? what do they know about the ending of joe biden's speech that i do not know? [laughter] let me conclude with a quote from my dad. i often get asked about why i

have this passion. they say, was your mother abused or was your sister or your wife before you met her -- thank god, no. i have this passion because i was raised by a righteous man who thought the cardinal sin of all sins was the abuse of power. that is the cardinal sin of all sins. the single most significant manifestation of that is a man raising a hand to a woman or a child. that is how i got -- it is not, thank god, not because the women in my life have been victimized. but my dad used to have an expression. when someone would say, this is what i value -- he would say, look, do not tell me what you value. show me your budget, and i will tell you what you value. [laughter] [cheers and applause]

do not tell me how much you care about equal pay. show me your payroll. let me look and see. show me your budget. folks, obviously, we, for the time being -- it will return, but for the time being, unfortunately, we value something very different from a lot of our friends up on the hill value right now. these folks are not bad people. they're good, decent people, but they have a very different value set right now. to be very blunt with you, we need your help. we need your help on that value said. we need your help. we need your help. and the help of our friends at the boys and girls clubs, help from our friends in the boy scouts and girl scouts, and all the leaders in the community who have focused on providing opportunity and filling in at

the needs of our young, not just girls, but boys and girls, our children. you all have the capacity to see to it that the values you fight for have a fighting chance to be reflected in our culture and in our laws. you are some of the most influential women in our community. many of you are extremely successful businesswoman, lawyers, doctors. the people you as symbol on your boards are women who span the spectrum. democrats, republicans, independentss, black and white. they are among the most influential members of the community. that is one of the reasons why you have so much influence, because people listen to you. they know you're not coming at this from a political or partisan perspective. they know you're not coming to this having anything to do with personal gain today know what you're proposing should be main

street values. for the united states of america. so do not underestimate your power. i do not think you do, but do not underestimate it. you are among the most respected citizens in each of your communities, and you have an impact. how many times do you go to a major business or corporation and they turn you down? they look at you and they know, they know they can trust what you do will not embarrass them and only enhance of them. and the list goes across the board, not just in business, labor organizations, wherever you go. it has been incredible, and i mean this sincerely, an incredible honor working with you. i would be remiss if i did not close without saying that, in all sincerity, thank you. thank you for what you do. thank you for what you're continuing to do. as my mom will it say if she were standing here, god love

her, she would look on all of you and say, ladies, you are doing god's work. you're doing god's work. thank you. [applause] thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [applause] >> as this event wraps up, house judiciary republicans reportedly embracing a five-year reauthorization of the violence against women snacked including tougher sentences, additional oversight and grant programs, and more money for dna testing backlog speed of the senate version would provide 36 houser of evidence, including lamar smith, kevin mccarthy, and nearly all the women in the

conference have signed on as co- sponsors of the bill which is scheduled for march up tomorrow for action and is expected next week. the house is back after a two- week break today because of the legislative business is -- today. seven legislative items are on the agenda. including bills allowing the capitol grounds to be used for various upcoming events. also a bill to allow for development of the washington, d.c., waterfront. the senate also back today to consider a bill to keep student loan rates from a doubling in july. also, a judicial nominations to the both houses will begin at 2:00 p.m. eastern today. see the senate live on c-span2, and the house, of course, you're not seized and of the budget committee will meet this afternoon to examine a plan to replace automatic spending cuts, with alternative cuts proposed by various committees. c-span3 will have live coverage at 2:00 p.m. eastern.

>> this week, live from london, the ceremony and pageantry of the state opening of parliament. until recently, parliament's official opening was usually held towards the end of the year. with changes to their election rules, it has now been moved to the spring. and wednesday, queen elizabeth will formally outlined the government's priorities for the upcoming year. live coverage starts at 5:30 a.m. eastern on c-span2. >> in new jersey governor chris christie now on cutting government spending. he spoke at a dinner hosted by the cato institute here in washington honoring a chinese human rights activist. his remarks are about 40 minutes. >> thank you very much. i want to thank ed for that

introduction. doing the best i can with him on his diet. he saysyear's dinner, he will look as damn good as i do. [laughter] [applause] pleasure to be here tonight, celebrate the work of the cato institute, and of course, tonight on larry -- honorablee. people laugh, why did you decide to accept this invitation on a friday night, to leave all the excitement in new jersey on a friday night? come down here to this sleepy little hamlet. speak before a small group of committed conservatives. it is simple. it is because the milton friedman the award is being granted to night. those of us in new jersey, we

firmly believe, and we are right about this, that everything in america has a connection to new jersey. [laughter] and so, for all of bu devotees of milton friedman here tonight -- for all of you the bodies of milton friedman here tonight, remember that milton friedman is an alumnus of rutgers, the state university of new jersey. [applause] he attended the university of chicago and some other places, too, but i do not think there is any question that his genius was truly developed and nurtured on the banks of the raritan river in new brunswick new

jersey at rutgers university. so we are coming together tonight at the close of a week, and he will -- that will always have a place in our country's history. it will be remembered as the day that america finally caught and killed osama bin laden. [applause] i hope that in the future, it will become a moment where we come together as a country, things fall for the courage of seal team 6 and the continued sacrifice of our soldiers. [applause] it is a day that i think can strengthen our resolve, a day to reaffirm our commitment to combating terrorism. i spent seven years of my life committed to that cause. i was the first united states attorney in new jersey in the

post-september 11 arabs -- era. i was informed that i would be nominated by the president on september 10, 2001. the job by accepted that they became significantly different the next day. when 900 residents of new jersey were murdered in the world trade center. more citizens than any other state other than at the state of new york. and in the intervening time, broke up two major terror plots post september 11 in new jersey. i say we must keep our resolve committed, and i mean we must keep our resolve committed to make sure that we pay honor to those families and their loved ones who gave their lives on september 11. so i hope that this day of may 1 will help us to continue to remember that sometimes justice

is slow, but we should always be resolved to making sure that justice is certain. for osama bin laden, may 1 is slow but certain justice for those citizens raquel on that day happened. the image of the united states around the world does not begin and end with a day like that. our image is directly tied to what we say. to what we do. and to who we are each and every day. all 355 of them, both at home and abroad. we no longer have the luxury of believing that domestic matters have no consequences beyond our borders. if anything, the path of the united states has taken over the last decade has proven that who we are at home primarily defined our role and our significance in the world. principle should never stop at

the water's edge. and as a result, i think we can all agree that the image of the united states around the world is not what it was, not what it can be, and certainly not what it needs to be. districts and pays a price whenever our economy fails to deliver, rising living standards for our citizens, or our political system cannot come together in agreement on the difficult but necessary steps to rein in entitlement spending. when we willingly let ourselves be distracted by issues that are nothing more than political sideshows, and when special interests win out over the collective national interest. you know, remember barack obama talking about the lack of hope and optimism around the country in 2008, and the environment i found myself in a 2009 was not significantly different, although he and i'd be fine

these solutions for that problem in entirely different ways -- he and i define the solutions in different ways. optimism was a hard thing to find in new jersey, and for very good reason. in the eight years before i became governor, our state raised taxes and fees at the state level 115 times in eight years. in case you are eating something, let me repeat that. taxes and fees of 115 times increase in eight years. in the decade before i became governor, from 2000 to 2009, new jersey had zero private sector job growth. literally zero. it was a zero job growth decade in new jersey. in the years before i became governor, $70 billion in wealth left in new jersey in four

years. the four years before i became governor, not diminished wealth, departed wealth. $70 billion in departed wealth. our unemployment rate was over 10%, with over one letter to divide thousand private sector jobs lost 90 four years of my predecessor -- with over 150,000 private sector jobs lost in the four years of my predecessor, jon corzine. [laughter] >> you always wonder what will be the laugh line. to my staff, mark that down. the worst climate for small business and a bloated state government with the highest number of government workers per square mile in the country. yeah, you can laugh unless you

live there. when i came to office in those last few weeks of january 2010, you think that the news could not get worse, and you would be wrong. in my second week as governor, my chief of staff and my state treasurer came into my office and said that if we cannot cut $2.2 qr billion in spending in the next five weeks, it -- $2.2 billion in spending and the next five weeks, we would not be able to meet payrolls in march. 60% of the money was already out the door. we had a $29 billion budget. we had to find $2.2 billion dollars -- not cuts to projected growth or any of that -- [laughter] people say, he has no self control. you can say, no, i saw him, he does. [laughter]

[applause] we had to find $2.2 billion in cuts for money that has already been appropriated. we essentially had to impound the money back from the departments that had already been appropriated to. that is so we could meet -- not so we could meet some lofty goals for cutting taxes. this was just so we can meet the payroll for the second pay perod in march and what is the second wealthiest state per-capita in america. what happens to an economy when a state government over taxes, overspins, over burroughs, and over regulates -- over spends, over borrows, and over regulates, just visit new jersey in 2010. i sat down with the democratic leadership to try to come to an agreement on a these cuts or,

thanks to new jersey's unique constitutional structure, i could cut spending through executive order. now, for those of you have watched me over the last two and a half years, if you believe i chose the former, it is not time for you to leave. [laughter] you're not smart enough to be here at the milton friedman and dinner. [applause] so we went with the second choice. we literally sat in a room over the course of three weeks and went over all 2400 line items in the new jersey state budget that i inherited. the result was finding putting $2.2 billion. well, we did it. [applause] the great thing about an executive order at first was i did not have to tell anybody. all of these things, a maid

inside the executive order, and i asked for a speech before the joint session of the legislature. so i first won, and there was a tradition apparently the governors would give copies of their speech before they arrived at the chamber for members of the legislature to review its and no went to -- either, the republicans and, appropriately clad, or the democratic side well sit on their hands -- will sit on their hands. i decided to broke the tradition. it was a rather tense room i walked into in that first speech. it was about a 40-minute speech. but the good news for you is, i can break it down now, two and a half years later, to 30 seconds. and i should have done at the first time. here is basically what i said that people in the room. i said i came into office and you handed me an enormous fiscal problem and a budget that was a

dollar sign2.2 billion out of balance in the middle of the year -- a $2.2 billion out of balance in the middle of the year. your proposed nothing to fix the problem. i went to my office, i found the cuts, i signed an executive order, and they are now in effect. i fixed your problem. you can thank me later. have a good day. [applause] now, as you can only imagine, as i walked out of the assembly chamber, the reaction from the legislature. reporters descended upon the floor of the legislature, and democratic legislators began calling me names. julius caesar. [laughter] napoleon bonaparte. all those great leaders of the past i admire so much. [laughter] and the next day, i was walking

into the state house at the same time as the democratic senate president. the senate president in new jersey is a good guy. i like him. he is a friend. steve is from the southern part of our state, and steve is the president of the ironworkers local unit in new jersey. he is a big guy like me. we came walking in it together. i told him, i said i read all this stuff you said about me in the newspaper. julius caesar, napoleon bonaparte. i sit, you have turned me around. i am going to go upstairs, vacate the executive order, and i will send this problem down the hall, and you guys fix it. what i will tell you now is all you need to know about politics in new jersey. steve looked at me and said, hey, hey, do not overreact. [laughter] you are new at this. you did not do so bad. [laughter] my point in telling you the

story is the first real substantial problem that i faced in office, and how you confront the problem sets the tone for your administration. i made clear from the first day that decades of fiscal irresponsibility were no longer going to be tolerated, that this was the administration that was going to put men into practices that had become accepted -- put an end to practices that had become accepted in new jersey. i said that i will go to trenton and turn it upside down. the press said, we do not know what that means. after that speech, they were informed. i made clear that we were not kidding around, that we meant to radically change the way government in new jersey was going to operate. and now the new jersey that we have today is very different. remember, the next year we had

an $11 billion budget deficit out of the $29 billion budget. 37% deficit. a percentage of the highest deficit of any state in america. and the democrats had their solution. you have heard this before. and millionaires surcharge. now, when we say it is a surcharge, because we already have a millionaire packed in new jersey, and this is -- a millionaire tax in new jersey. our millionaire tax applies to any business or individual that makes over $400,000 a year. this is called new jersey math. but to show you how optimistic i am, i have tried to use this in a small way as a plus. i say to people, listen, come to new jersey.

if you always dreamed of being a millionaire -- [laughter] [applause] because even if your not, we will tax you like you are one. [laughter] [applause] so they proposed a surcharge on the millionaires' tax, which makes their top rates 10.75%. third highest in america, behind only, thank god for california and hawaii, but we're in the third. have been third. and they pass the bill and brought it down to my office with great fanfare, cameras following week -- following them. i put my coat on and can bounce -- came outside and went to greet them. and they handed me the bill. you know what democrats do with these bills, right?

it was probably the "freedom and justice for all" act [laughter] and you do not really read the thing. but i'm from new jersey. [laughter] so i said to the leaders of the legislature, as a down for one second. i will be right with you. i went to my pocket and i to get my pen and i sat down at the little table that i had in the office and i viewed it and handed it back to them. i said, we do not need to be dealing with this. and they said we will be back. and i said, we will see. [laughter] and they tried to override my veto and republicans stood with me, and they did not. and we closed at $11 million -- $11 billion budget gap without -- $11 million budget gap without raising taxes on the people of new jersey for the first time in 10 years, showing it was possible. [applause]

and that last year we passed a two-point $3 billion business tax cuts for businesses in new jersey to bring people back into new jersey to make it affordable to create jobs. and nearly 70,000 private-sector jobs have been created in new jersey. for the first time in 10 years a majority of new jerseyans recently polled believe the state is back on the right track. [applause] to give yourself perspective, on election day 2009, the percentage of new jerseyans the believed it was right -- on the right track was 19%. today, 53%. do not tell me that people in

this country are not ready to hear the truth. we cut spending in every department of state government. we reduce overall spending in my first full budget by over 9%, not off of projections of growth. off of baseline spending from the year before. we cut education, military affairs, we cut benefits for veterans. the woodcut everything. -- we cut everything. folks told me those were the third real to politics, given that i was still upright -- the third rail to politics. given i was still upright, i decided to go after some the house. that was, entitlements, pensions and benefits for public employees. we went out and put forward common-sense reforms, but tough ones. folks had to pay more into their pensions. ? -- they had to actually pay for

their health benefits. when i became governor, public employees were not required to pay anything for their health benefits. we said the retirement age had to be raised. we said early retirement had to have a greater penalty if you were going to take it. and we said there can be no cost-of-living adjustments to your pension until your fund is solvent. they said this is going to be impossible to do, but we did it. we went to the public and we told them why it was so important. we told them the pension fund was going to go broke in 2018. we told them that our health benefit fund was $67 billion underfunded. and it was going to lead to the financial ruin of the state. we actually convinced democrats. and the senate president that i told you about that had a funny clip on the way in early on, he deserves great credit. he sponsored the bill with only

one-third of his own caucus being willing to vote for it. along with a third -- with the republicans he passed the bill and the state senate. and the speaker of the assembly -- [applause] it democratic woman -- a democratic woman, she goes to the bill in her house, with only 13 of the 14 democratic colleagues willing to vote yes. -- only 13 of the 40 democratic colleagues will in to vote yes. why? because we took the risk and we told the truth. when you see these numbers in new jersey and i tell you all that we have done, do not tell me the american people do not hear the truth. they know the government is out of control. they know the debt and deficit is out of control.

disliking isfuse solution with accepting it. they don't have to like it. the only thing that the american people ought to care more about that today is tomorrow. tomorrow is about our grandchildren. today is just about us. let's be clear, we identified problems, we proposed a specific means to fix them, if we educated the public on the direct consequences of inaction, and then we compromise on a bipartisan basis to get results. the bottom line is we took action. we did it with solemn -- solid principles and strong leadership. and the only way to accomplish this is with the executive taking a risk and to encourage everyone else to come along with

us when it is the right thing to do. today, we are not dealing with multibillion-dollar budget deficits anymore. this year, i was also able to propose a budget with the first income tax cut for new jerseyans in over 15 years. [applause] it to & across the board tax cut that will give new jerseyans $9 billion in relief over the next decade. and here is the amazing thing, you would expect democrats to be fighting me on it. but instead, the majority are saying that we have to cut taxes. they are doing with me about the way to do it. that proves the strong, principled leadership can fundamentally change the discussion in the state or our country. it can even change the mindset in a place like new jersey. when you have democrats agreeing with me that it is time to cut

taxes after a decade of raising them, then it is official, we have turned -- trenton upside down. we have put state interests ahead of party isn't interest and we have made friends of our -- ahead of partisan interests and we have made friends of our colleagues in a common-sense way. that is why our reforms and pension debt of this are going to save $132 billion for taxpayers over the next 30 years and also secured a penchant for those counting on them, our police officers, firefighters, teachers. they are counting on those pensions for their financial future. leadership matters. it counts. the attitude has got to be when

there is a problem, you fix it. that is the job you have been sent to do. you cannot wait for someone else to do it. and when you do your job, you have to tell your citizens the truth. tell the truth about the challenge and difficulty of the solution. treat them like adults. [applause] this is the only way to govern. when we fail at this we paid a price many times over. the domestic prices obvious. growth slows down, unemployment vs cannot and we make ourselves -- unemployment persists, and we vulnerable to the hon decisions of our lenders. but there is also a global price to pay. there is no better way to

persuade other countries to become more market oriented and more democratic than to show them our markets and our democracy works better than any other system. we believe that democracy is the best protector of human dignity and liberty and freedom. and we know this because history shows that mature democracies are not likely to result -- resort to force against their own people or their neighbors. exports are the best craters of high-paying jobs and imports are a means to increase consumer choice. [applause] in africa and elsewhere people are debating their own economic future is right now. they are looking for inspiration right now. and we have a stake in the

outcome of their debate. the middle east could become largely democratic and at peace, in italy's that excess israel, rejects terrorism, and becomes -- in middle east that accepts israel, rejects terrorism, and becomes a source of energy that is stable. at one time in our history our greatness was a reflection of our country's innovation, our determination and ingenuity and the strength of our democratic institutions. when there is a crisis in the world, america found a way to help our allies. when there's a crisis at home, we put aside parochialism and put us -- with the public interest first. and in our system we did it through strong leadership by strong leaders. unfortunately now, our own domestic political conduct has

failed to live up to this tradition of at socialism. today, our role and our ability to affect change has been diminished because of our own problems, and our own inability and unwillingness to effectively deal with them. i understand full well that succeeding at home, setting an example is not enough. but it is a start. the u.s. will only be able to sustain a leadership position around the world if the resources are there in our society to produce a society that others want to emulate. without the authority that comes from exceptional as some, earned american exceptional as some -- exceptionalism, we cannot begin the world aspires to, we cannot produce future generations who

believe in their heart that this is the best way to govern a people. [applause] realize that a lot of -- but i also plead guilty to being an optimist. i believe it is possible to have leadership that understands that what is happening in new jersey is not just because our ideas are right -- and by the way, they are. [laughter] i tell my staff all the time that after we've had a big victory -- and i gather them together in my office every time, unfortunately, we've had plenty of them. i tell them every time, remember, the first and most

important reason that one is because we are right. there is no substitute for that -- that we won is because we are right. there is no substitute for [applause] that] -- no substitute for that. [applause] in new jersey, day after day after day, is it with colleagues on both sides of the child convincing them of the goodness of my spirit and my intentions and letting them know that i do not believe that compromise is a dirty word. the way i see it is this, there is always a boulevard between compromise your principles and getting everything that you want. you have to be willing to say no to things that are of fundamental odds with your principles. you should never compromise your principles. but you also need to understand that especially in a place like new jersey, and now washington

where there is divided government, you are also not going to get everything you want. sometimes that boulevard is now and sometimes it is brock -- narrow and sometimes it is more broad. by your job is to find your way onto that boulevard without driving into the ditch of compromising your principles. it can be done. and leaders have an obligation to make those tough choices. in new jersey, this is what we have been trying to do. believe me, if you can do this in new jersey, you can do it anywhere. we have 700,000 more democrats than republicans. we have not elected a republican statewide for 12 years before my election. if we're coming up on the 40th anniversary of electing a republican to the united states senate. 1972 was the last time that new

jersey was -- new jersey sent a republican to the u.s. senate. i do not want to hear any other state crying that their state is so hard and we cannot do this. [laughter] come -- come to new jersey and the republican, then you will no hard. [laughter] but it can be done. it can be done. that is where my optimism comes from both for my state and my country. it is not about having everyone agree with you all the time. i can guarantee you the people of new jersey do not always agree with everything i do and they certainly do not always agree with the way i say it. but they know i am telling the truth as i see it. i'm not looking to be loved. i think politicians get themselves in trouble when they are looking to be loved. i get plenty of love at home. i am not bragging. i just do. [laughter] i have a great wife and four

grandchildren. -- for great children. and i'm not looking for the people of new jersey to love me. when you're looking for this job -- looking for love in this job, that is when the deficit goes up. someone somewhere will not love you. that is why leaders bald and make uncomfortable decisions -- white leaders balk and make uncomfortable decisions because they want to be loved. my mother told me long ago if you have a choice between being loved and being respected, always take respected. if you are truly respected, truelove can come. but love without respect is always fleeting. of course, she's talking about women. [laughter] but i do think this applies equally to politics.

if you get people to respect you, if you make them understand you are willing to say no, but you're also always willing to listen, that you are willing to stand hard on principles, the principles that you have articulated to the public in the campaign, the principles that you have been elected on, and the principles that you believe in, but that you are also willing to compromise when those principles will not be violated -- if you are also willing to compromise with those principles will not be violated, then respect will come. even those who do not agree with me know that when i look them in the eye and tell them i'm going to do something, i'm going to do it, regardless of the perceived political cost. and if i tell them no, they know, no means no. new york magazine did a profile on me recently, always a risky thing for a republican. the headline of the story was

"the answer is no." my staff loses up -- blue this up, everyone of them, and they take it to the back of the office doors. when the lobbyists come to see them and they start to ask them something, they say turnaround, that is from the boss, the answer is no. [laughter] [applause] it is about being consistent. it is about leading by example. it is about not putting your finger up in the wind and trying to figure out which way the wind is blowing. it is about standing for the things that we believe in, which is that liberty and freedom and human spirit are the most powerful things in the world. and being willing to stand up to those who give you the path and

easy answers -- pat and easy answers who believe that government is the answer to every solution is what we need to do now more than ever in this country. we need to be strong enough and tough enough to do what needs to be done and just tell it like it is. there is no need for garnish anymore. in fact from -- for varnish anymore. in fact for my do not think we even need to put it on. the people are ready to hear it. if we've meet that challenge -- if we meet that challenge, and i know we can, that we will allow the united states once again to export hope and liberty and freedom are around the world, notches by saying things, but by living -- not just by saying it, but by living it each and every day. i want to thank the members of

the cato institute for setting an example for why liberty and freedom are so important to the future greatness of america. and i left all that is exciting in new jersey tonight to come here, as i told you, because i believe in what you believe in. but please never forget that it is not going to come without a fight. and if you are willing to stand up and fight with me, then i'm willing to stand and fight with you for those principles that we believe in and hold dear and that have built this country. we need to get fighting hard, even harder than we are now because the stakes are too great to do anything less. we're going to continue to fight the good fight in new jersey. we hope that it will inspire more people to fight all around the country. and then we talk about american

exceptionalism we can really feel it, because we have not just had it as a part of our past. we are acting to make a bedrock of our future. thank you all very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> the house is back after a two-week break today. also, the senate is back today from their break. both houses of galilee in in about half an hour at 2:00 p.m. eastern -- will double in in about half an hour at 2:00 p.m. eastern.

the house budget committee is meeting this afternoon to examine it planned to reduce and replace automatic spending cuts. it is called the budget sequester. c-span3 will have live coverage of that, getting under way also a 2:00 p.m. eastern. queen elizabeth opens the british parliament this week and she will outline the government's priorities for the coming year to both the house of lords and the house of commons. we will have live coverage wednesday morning starting at 5:30 a.m. eastern. month, c-spans radio is orrington -- is airing more of the nixon tapes from the secret the recorded phone conversations from 1971 to 1973. this saturday at 6:00 p.m. eastern, here conversations with the deputy security adviser, alexander haig.

>> the most highly classified documents of the war. >> oh, that. i see. i did not read the story, but that was leaked out of the pentagon? >> sir, there was a whole study that was done format amera and then carried on after mcnamara left by clifford and the peace nicks over there. >> you can listen on xm channel 119 and at c-span radio.org. >> the house gavels in at 2:00 p.m. eastern. live coverage here on c-span. until then, a discussion of campaign 2012 from today's washington journal -- "washington journal."

host: explain your message today. guest: the president was talking about courage, leadership, hope being abundant. it is irrelevant if you do not have a leader with vision and his fate is not determined by the city, but the city's fate is determined by the leadership. he talked about budget problems, the deficit, unemployment. he talked about how the minorities and the four had been left out of the equation in america, and how his bold ideas and his leadership would not look back to what the problems were and what caused the problems, but move forward to fight those problems. and here we are four years later and the economy is anemic at best. unemployment is still dismal, no matter what the labor statistics

may report. the american economy is not getting any better. everyone from the highest level to the lowest logical -- lois leval, their lifestyle has been diminished. people are being encouraged to read because it is better for your portfolio. most of them today, many americans are being consumed by it. the president is out on the campaign trail and he makes these comments about mitt romney and he goes back to the days of bush when he was running for the office, he says i have a whole, the vision, what is necessary to move this country forward. i think is fair and legitimate to ask the president how how you move this forward instead of complaining about what bush did not do, and complaining about romney, who was still vying to be president, but what he has done in the last three years. host: and as ford message, you

feel is just as empty as hope and change? guest: there is no forward message. if you look at your way of life, the people in your neighborhood, this country overall, are you better off today than you were before president obama became president of the united states? and if you ask yourself honestly, did the hope and change take place as the president so boldly declared, and the answer is a resounding no. host: if you want to join in on a conversation with questions or comments, give us a call. mr. williams, i want to return to your column. you are talking about mr.

romney's campaign slogan and you say his believe in america slogan is also light on content. talk about that. guest: in all fairness, these campaigns are about symbolism, manipulation, about convincing people of an idea. they never really take the time to think the idea through to see if it is going to work for the american people. these people want to become the ceo of the united states. if you want to do that, you need to know something about economics 101. and while mr. romney was governor of massachusetts, he actually gave rise to what has

become obamacare. michele bachmann waited almost months to make sure he would be the nominee before she endorsed him. and to give them a very tacit endorsement. and even speaker gingrich was still saying over the weekend that mr. brahney does not tell the truth. there is not a lot of enthusiasm for this candidate because people do not really believe what he -- that he means what he says. i do believe the president obama can lose the election and in losing, romney would win by default. the election is all about the president, as it was when bush left office. they wanted to give someone else

a chance and they will go through this until someone gets it right. and they gave obama the opportunity for hope and change, and yes, they are still disappointed. host: we talked about the gallup poll and the double-digit gap in enthusiasm between mitt romney supporters and obama's supporters. guest: president obama is well- liked. he is a very care mess that a leader. people like the fight -- the fact that he is a family man and he knows how to connect to people. whether he is at a basketball game or just out on an easter egg hunt with the kids. president obama has this ability to connect. romney is not that comfortable with people.

and sometimes it is not about the substance in the presidential election. people want to feel good. but i think the time has come for people to get away from the mentality -- if you look at what is going on in europe. it does not really matter. germany is still europe's paymaster. you still have to abide by the principles and demands of angela merkel. it's either way or no way because they are funding the economy. many people do not understand why president obama, if you see the way that europe is collapsing, that people do not want to go through the tough austerity measures, what would

you want to make the united states the united states of europe. host: allow you to respond to a tweet about why it didn't answer to change take place. he said the answer is republicans. guest: the president can muster his leadership would be a uniting force. and some would say he is the most abysmal president and recent memory. leadership knows how to work with both sides of the aisle. i do not think many americans believe that the republicans are going to support a health care bill if they do not think it is in best interest of the country. republicans are not going to

embrace the president if he's not willing to look at reducing the deficit at some point we have to pay our debts -- it is almost unheard of in this country. at some point, we have to pay our debts. you cannot spend more than you earn. if the president put forth policies that the republicans could embrace and had the best interests of this economy long term in mind, they could support of this president. it is also about politics. the present -- the republicans want the white house. u.s. seen john boehner and mitch mcconnell walk across the aisle to try to support -- you have seen at john boehner and mitch mcconnell walked across the aisle to try to support this president. there are a lot of democrats to just have to hold their nose. he is on the campaign trail bashing congress. but we have nothing to make us believe. host: good morning. you're on with armstrong

williams. caller: good morning. eric cantor said the main thing he wanted to do was a defeat president obama. he did not say he wants to create jobs or anything. they said, no. it is not leadership. if i was running a company and my workers said no to everything i did, i would get new workers. is that correct? guest: in fairness, when kantor put forth his business and jobs bill, democrats were not in support rent of the bill. he started with a good idea. when he got involved with the deficit reduction, the president and the leadership on the republican side crossed the

aisle to support it. there have been instances where they have worked together. obviously, eric cantor believes they want to defeat the president and get the white house. in the end, we want to believe that they put the interests in what is best for the american people. even the president said sometimes you have to put politics aside and do what is best for this country. host: on twister, a question. >> live now to today's white house briefing. we will show you as much of this as we get into the house comes in at 2:00 p.m. eastern. >> i want to welcome you to the briefing room for your daily briefing. it is good to see you. i hope you had a terrific weekend. i have no announcement of the top, so i will go straight to questions. >> the election in france, does

it increase your concern that a shift away from austerity could worsen the economic situation there and drive the united states down with it? secondarily, what with the president's role be in any bridging between the two? is he directly involved in that? >> president obama called president hollande to congratulate him and said that he is looking for to working with him on challenges. he welcomed him to the g-8 and then to chicago for the nato summit. he suggested that they need before and at the white house. that alliance between united

states and france is as strong today as it was last week. as for the situation in europe, as the president said just the other day, our economy continues to face them head winds, and the eurozone crisis is one of them. that is why he has worked directly with his counterparts in europe, why secretary geithner has worked with his counterparts in europe to advise and consult on the issue of how best to contain the situation in europe, how best to get control of it. european leaders have taken some significant steps toward dealing with that eurozone crisis. and the president, secretary geithner, and others in the administration will continue to work with european leaders toward that end. i think that basically answer your question. >> not exactly. one of those leaders just got ousted and it is replaced with

someone who has been on record as being opposed to steps that you all applauded in establishing more security and austerity. he said he wants to take a step back from that. does that make the head when you were referring to strawboard? >> two point, first got -- first, we will not negotiate on behalf of european countries you're at the white house, or between european countries you're at the white house. second, the president has made clear as he did at the g-20 that he believes in a balanced approach toward fiscal consolidation that includes both fiscal consolidation and efforts to boost recovery as the right approach for your. he has taken the approach here in the u.s. that has been aimed at growing the economy and creating jobs in the short-term as well as dealing with our deficit and debt challenges in the medium and long terms.

that is an effort to ensure that recovery continues, but also get the fiscal house in order. >> this morning, the education secretary put us both on record [unintelligible] does this box the president in ahead of the election? have his views changed all on this? what's -- >> what the vice president said yesterday was to make this and point that the president made -- the same point that the president said previously, to give committed couples the same rights as all americans. the administration also has stopped defending the constitutionality of section 3 of the defense of marriage act and legal challenges. secretary duncan was asked a question about his personal

views on an issue and he offered them. and obviously, this is an issue that many people have a view on and we respect the right of all people to have a personal view. >> [unintelligible] >> the president is the right person to describe his own personal views. as you know, he said his views on this were evolving and i do not have an update for you on that. >> incoming president hallande is recommending an income approach to austerity. is this something the president could support? >> each country has its own circumstances. europe has its own distinct problems with the eurozone crisis. we are not going to dictate to any country or collection of countries what policies they should pursue. the president said at the g-20 that a balanced approach toward

fiscal consolidation and growth is what he believes is appropriate. that is the approach he has taken here. europeans have taken a number of significant steps toward dealing with this crisis, and more needs to be done. we have said that for quite some time out and our view on that has not changed. >> [unintelligible] with the european counterparts. >> i do not have any scheduling announcements to make on behalf of secretary geithner, but as you know, the treasury secretary has made numerous trips to europe to discuss eurozone issues with his counterparts there. i'm sure he has not made his last visit there. >> the president has raised millions of dollars from lgbt donors, many of whom think that in his second term he will come out in support of gay marriage. does and he owed them, or voters in general, his direct thoughts

and stop dancing around the issue and telling voters well heat -- whether he will support gay marriage in his second term? but the president said his views on this are evolving. -- >> the president said his views on this are evolving. he does have support in the lgbt committee and that is because of his efforts on their behalf. it includes repealing don't ask, don't tell. it includes ending the defense of marriage act. it includes ensuring hospital visitation rights for lgbt love ones. i could go on. his record as an unparalleled and he will continue to fight for those rights moving forward. >> everybody deserves to live and love as they see fit. i do not doubt -- i do not have to tell the people in this room we got a ways to go in this

struggle. what is he referring to, if not gay marriage? >> he has said that he strongly opposes efforts to restrict rights, to repeal rights for same-sex couples. he has made his opposition to those efforts in various states known, and he will continue to do so. i think it is a statement of obvious fact that the full enjoyment of rights by lgbt citizens has not been achieved uniformly across the country. and that is why he has taken a stand in opposition to efforts in some states to deny those rights and to discriminate against lgbt citizens. and >> -- >> buys president biden said there is a consensus building toward -- vice- president biden said there is a consensus building toward equal rights for the gay community.

is this not an expressed support of gay marriage? >> let me be clear, the vice he said aboutat the protection of the rights of citizens is completely consistent with the president's opinion on this issue. and his -- the way the country has moved on this issue, it is wholly accurate. we have all seen an evolution of views across the country on these issues. >> is he trying to have it both ways before an election? but no, this president has been extremely -- >> no, this president has been extremely supportive of gay rights. there are those that want to bring don't ask, don't tell

back. he robustly fight against efforts to restrict or deny rights to lgbt citizens, and he will continue to do so. there is they'll list of actions this administration has -- there is a long list of actions this administration has taken on behalf of the lgbt citizens in this country. >> i do want to see if the president had an opportunity to see the hostage video by al qaeda and the man made a personal plea to the president and reference to his two daughters. >> the president is aware of it. i do not know that he has seen it. we remain grave concern to for mr. weinstein's safety and his well-being. our hearts go out to him and his

family. we condemn his kidnapping in the strongest terms and call for his immediate release. the u.s. government will continue to make every effort to see him released safely to his family, but we cannot and will not negotiate with al qaeda. >> i think one of the issues is that when asked about the president's position, the president no longer says he is an evolving on the issue. he says, i don't have any news to make on that. the suggestion is that there is news there and you are waiting for the proper time to drop it, likely after november. >> i think that is your characterization. i think the president said he is a balding. and when people have -- he is evolving. and when people have asked him

that and have asked for an update on his views to put forward, he has simply said i have nothing new for you on that. his position is what it was, and that is with regard to his personal view. what has been a -- what needs to be remembered is thawhat he has done in office for a lgbt rights. that has been extensive and unparalleled and he will continue to fight for these rights as long as he is in office. >> the president has done more for lgbt rights than any other president in history. you do not need to say that again. [laughter] the question is, there are very few people who think that the president is not going to after november, whether reelected or not, come out and say he is for

same-sex marriage. i think there are very few of those aboard the president, barry tebow oppose the president -- a very few people who oppose the president have any doubt that that is was likely to happen. if you do not have any news to draw on it, but probably is mined as been made up, why -- his mind has been made of, why not come out and say it? instead of being cynical. >> i think the president has spoken about this and it has gotten a great deal of coverage. i do not have an update to provide you with. it is what it was. i'm sorry do not want to hear about the president's support for the lgbt rights because it is considerable. >> i did not say i did not want to hear it. i just do not need to hear it 15

times in a row. >> what are talking points to you are serious rights to other. don't ask, don't tell is a serious matter. the efforts this administration has taken on behalf of lgbt committee is a serious matter. -- community is a serious matter. i just do not have any more to give you on the issue. >> it is not because you do not have news to me -- for me, but that he is still evolving? >> it is what it was. >> [unintelligible] >> i will tell you what the president has said in the past, both during his campaign in 2008, and it answer to a question in 2010. i do not have an update for you. >> is he comfortable with the fact of men marrying men and women marrying women? >> the president is comfortable with same-sex couples, as the

vice-president said, being entitled to the civil rights and liberties as other americans. and that is why he has fought against those things that would take away those rights by law. >> the president is still evolving. is that a fair characterization? >> i will leave it to individuals to describe their own personal views. what i can describe to you is the president's position on issues, the actions he has taken at a policy level on behalf of lgbt americans, and his commitment to continue to do so, to protect and defend their rights. >> a number of democrats governors are around this country, and now the vice

president, all support same-sex marriage. why doesn't president obama support same-sex marriage? >> i just do not have an update for you on his position, but on his personal views, i can tell you he is a committed supporter of lgbt rights. his record bears that out. is an unparalleled record. and he is proud of it. and he will run on it. it is important to remember when we talk about those accomplishments under this administration that they are more than talk -- talking points. they are demonstrations of progress, progress that others would take away. this president is committed to not letting that happen. >> when you say the vice president -- the president is evolving, he used some key words.

he said they are entitled to all the same rights and civil liberties. does that mean that he supports same-sex marriage? >> there was a statement the vice-president office put out yesterday describing his statement. i do not have an elaboration on that. i can tell you that what he said is completely consistent with the president's views that lgbt citizens should enjoy the same rights and they should not be discriminated against. efforts to take away those rights are things the president strongly opposes. >> when the president proposes a bit like the american jobs act, he travels around the country and tells them, are you for it or against it? why can he say he supports or does not support same-sex marriage? >> his views have not changed

and i have no update to give you on them. >> a quick question on the economy. we saw the president officially roll out his campaign on saturday. his campaign committee -- and we saw the campaign committee with a video with are we going to be better off for years from now, as he said in 2008. is he buying more time? >> i think the president has and will continue to defend his record and make a strong case for the actions he has taken. when you talk about where we are -- where we were four years ago, think about it. we were on the presidents of the worst economic decline since the

depression. when he took office we were hemorrhaging 800,000 jobs a month. we have now seen 25 straight months of private sector job creation, 11 straight quarters of positive economic growth, which stands in contrast to the fourth quarter of 2008. when the president was in office, the economy -- when the previous president was in office, the economy shrank 9% we are going in a far better direction now that we were in 2008. >> you think we are better off. >> i think we are better of gaining jobs than losing jobs at a rate of 800,000 a month. we are better off growing the economy than seeing a shrink at a pace not seen since the great depression. do we have further to go? no question, the president says that all the time when he discusses this issue. the holes dug by the great -- by the recession was deeper. but we have made significant

progress. and we need to continue to grow the economy. if the congress acts on proposals that the president has put forward that they have yet to act on to, for example, put teachers back to work, put first responders back to work, put construction workers back on the job -- euna obama one of the exciting things that we've seen about -- you know, one of the exciting things that we've seen about the recovery is that there has been a significant drop of government employment during this recovery. that was not the case under previous presidents. in recent months, one of the causes of that has been the laying off teachers around the country. the president has put forward a proposal to ensure those teachers would be brought back into the classroom. republicans in congress opposed it. they had a choice to support teachers or tax breaks for the wealthiest americans, teachers or subsidies for oil and gas

companies. unfortunately, they did not choose teachers. >> why did the administration feel like they had to put out as a statement clarifying what the vice president said? >> i do not know it was because the vice president put out a statement. there was a lot of interest generated by the comments and the vice-president put out a statement to make it clear what he was saying. but again, i think there is a bit of an overreaction here. the vice-president supports and makes clear he supports the president's policies when it comes to protecting the rights of lgbt citizens. and he also has his own personal views about the issue, as does the president, as do most people. lgbtresident's record on rights is extensive, and he is committed to working to move forward on that issue.

>> do the vice-president and the president is agree on gay marriage? but i do not think that is what the vice president said yesterday. -- >> i do not think that is what the vice president said yesterday. everyone in this administration supports the initiatives this administration has taken to defend the rights of all americans, including lgbt americans. >> [unintelligible] >> the president believes that the states are deciding this issue and he has made clear -- >> is it not a federal issue? >> we certainly oppose efforts to take away rights at the federal level, which some politicians have tried to pass amendments to do that. we oppose that. the president has taken action on this issue and he believes that when it works, it is a

positive thing. he also works against denying rights at the state level. >> where were the president be on the amendment in north carolina the advance gay marriage? >> -- that bans gay marriage? >> the president opposes initiatives that would deny the right of any citizens in any state. >> [unintelligible] >> the record is clear, the president has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same-sex couples. that is the position he has taken. is the position he has taken in north carolina and in other states with this issue. he is opposed to efforts in the states that deny rights to citizens. >> you are saying that he

opposes being against a marriage, but is not yet for a marriage. >> what he opposes is adverse to repeal rights that have been granted to lgbt citizens because they are discriminatory and wrong. >> the administration's position on whether greece decides to pull out of the eurozone, is there a concern that they might and that it would set off a greater economic crisis? >> i think we're looking at the eurozone crisis as a whole. we understand the political parties in greece are working to form a coalition and we hope to hear an announcement in coming days. the greek people have made many sacrifices to address the country's economic crisis and

reece's economic reform program -- and greece's economic reform program remains important for the entire region. we will continue to work with greece, with a we have a longstanding relationship, and who we will support through the imf and through the center reforms that will support and sustain economic growth. as i said earlier in response to other questions, we are very mindful of the impact the situation in europe can have on the american economy. it has been described as a head wind. that is why we worked so closely with our european counterparts advise and consult with them on the steps they are taking to deal with it. we will continue to work with the greeks. >> but we are leaving the briefing at this point. you can see the rest on our website c-span.org.

now coverage of the house. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. we give you thanks o god for giving us another day. to help us. we ask your blessing upon this assembly and upon all to whom the authority of government is given. help them to meet their responsibilities during these days. to attempt to the immediate needs and concerns of the moment. and all the while enlighten them with your eternal spirit. especially in this time >> nation and loving care for others.

watch over this house. have your blessing be upon each member that he they will serve the people with sincerity and truth. may all that is done within the people's house this day with your greater honor and glory. amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the plg pledge will be led by the gentleman from south carolina, mr. wilson. mr. wilson: everyone, including our guests in the gallery, please join in. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina

seek recognition? mr. wilson: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wilson: last friday the bureau of labor statistics released the latest jobs report . sadly for the past 39 months our nation's unemployment rate has remained at or above 8%. it is grew somely clear that the president's failed policies are not working for young americans but instead are destroying jobs. with 54% of college graduates under 25 unemployed or underemployed. the most recent report confirmed that more than 500,000 of discouraged americans have given up searching for a job within the last two months. if the labor force remain the same size as 2009, when the president was sworn into office, our nation's unemployment rate would be at 11%. the president's policies are failing young americans with shrinking jobs and growing deficits with devastating

interest payments. it is past time to for the liberal control senate to take up the house republicans' more than 30 bills that would help create jobs. in conclusion god bless our troops. we will never foregent september 11 and the global war on terrorism. some for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> to request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, today i rise to recognize zippo manufacturing company, which is located in the fifth district of pennsylvania, city of bradford. zippo employs approximately 900 people in bradford which is a community of approximately 8,000 people making it the largest employer in the county. zippo has been making lighters since 1895 and became very popular during world war ii. next month zippo will celebrate the production of 500 millionth pocket lighter at the plant. the actual 500 millionth zippo

lighter will be classic brushed chrome with two-tone ingraveing and individual sale number of one. but it's not just a number that zippo and its employees will celebrate, it's that over the years zippo has developed an iconic brand. consumers in over 160 countries around the world buy zippo products. despite the drastic downturn in the economy, zippo has continued to successfully grow its business, support our domestic manufacturers, and strengthen our communities. for these reasons zippo's c.e.o. was recently nominated to serve on the u.s. department of commerce manufacturing council. you want to congratulate zippo on this tremendous accomplishment. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the chair: the honorable the speaker -- the clerk: the honorable, the speakers high pressure system, sir. this is to notify you pormally pursuant to rule 8 of the u.s.

rules of the houches, i have issued a subpoena for the northern district texas for deposition testimony. i have determined that compliance with the subpoena is not consistent with the privileges and rights of the house. signed, sincerely, kay granger, member of congress. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. sir, this is to notify you formally pursuant to rule 8 of the rules of the house of representatives that i have been served with a subpoena issued by the united states district court for the northern district of texas for deposition testimony. after consultation with the office of general counsel, i have determined that compliance with the subpoena is not consistent with the privileges and rights of the house. signed, sincerely, pete sessions, member of congress. the speaker pro tempore: the

chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. sir, this is to notify you formally pursuant to rule 8 of the rules of the house of representatives, that i have been served with a subpoena for documents and testimony issued by the district court of maryland, baltimore county, in connection with civil litigation currently pending before that court. after consultation with the office of counsel, i have determined that the cause of the subpoena is not material and relevant compliance with the subpoena is inconsistent with the privileges and precedents of the house. signed, sincerely, harry t. spikes, special assistant. the speaker pro tempore: the house lays before -- the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. sir, this is to notify you formally pursuant to rule 8 of the rules of the house of representatives that i have been served with a subpoena for documents and testimony issued

by the district court of maryland, baltimore county, in connection with civil litigation currently pending before that court. after consultation with the office of general counsel, i have determined that the cause of the subpoena is not material and relevant. compliance with the subpoena is inconsistent with the privileges and precedents of the house. signed, sincerely, elijah cummings, member of congress. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from cro seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to honor and remember the martins of greeley, colorado. leona faithly served the county for 22 years as the executive director of the food bank. while the owner lost her battle against cancer, her legacy and influence will continue the fight against hunger for generations to come. under her leadership, the food

bank grew its annual distribution from 40,000 to eight million pounds of food. she expanded their operating facilities to 35,000 square feet where they served more than 10,000 residents each month. the tremendous leadership, dedication, and passion she held for the citizens is unrivaled and the county has truly reaped the benefit of her work. i had the opportunity to tour the food bank, part of it is named after her, this past december. mr. gardner: and fully agree with her colleagues and friends who describe her as an amazing leader with tremendous vision. tireless work. -- worker and true friend. thanks to her passion and tireless effort, the citizens are ensured continued service and dedication. it is my honor to stand here today to remember and recognize leona for her incredible vision, hard work, and passion to improve the lives of the

citizens of greeley, colorado. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until approximately 4:00 p.m. today.

>> live from london, the ceremony and pageantry of the state opening of parliament. until recently, the official opening was held in the end of the year but not has been moved to the spring. on wednesday, queen elizabeth will formally outlined the upcoming year. >> the center for strategic and international studies recently hosted a conference on cyber security and trans-atlantic cooperation with the u.s. and the european union.

this is about 50 minutes. >> that i could ask everyone to take their seats. good morning. welcome to csis. i was nervous when i heard severe thunderstorms, so i appreciate your being willing to come here. we have a very full day and information that has not been discussed fully here in washington, transit operation in cyber security, with the european union is doing, what the commission is doing, and it is all very important. i would now like to welcome our co-host.

>> thank you so much. i would like to welcome everybody on behalf of the european security round table. thank you for having picked up the opportunity to organize this for us. i'm glad that so many responded to our common call to have a trans-atlantic fiber security community meeting. i would like to thank you for the possibility to go over this with you. i would like to thank sra, a private state colder that made this opportunity possible. thank you very much for the great support. i would also like to thank the commission in particular that you took the time to come here. as we all know, going over the atlantic takes a lot of time and it is very much appreciated to

have this opportunity today. i would also like to thank the estonian and german embassy who have helped get this together and i would also like to mention the liaison office was also tremendously helpful. last but not least, i want to thank christian for linking up the true size of the atlantic which is not always easy. we interact closely this is what we are here for, to talk about things that are verified. i'm sure we will hear enough

about the established cyber center and a look very much forward to what you have to tell us. have heatherg to introduced this. >> i liked thesewuo quote from kissinger, "the man who needs no introductino," -- no introduction." but i still like to give one. me a two very important and powerful voices with us this morning and we're delighted to welcome you. she has the incredible responsibility of looking after eu border control and police

cooperation. prior to this important position, he was the swedish minister -- she was the swedish minister from 2006-2010. she knows brussels extremely well having served as a member of the european parliament from 1999-2006 when she served on the foreign affairs committee. there is one title that i actually hold very dear. we did not know until yesterday's she was a csis in turn. this is terrific. we are so delighted. after she provides her remarks, we're going to welcome the jane lute to offer her remarks. she oversees the third largest

federal agency. she has been so well per prepared -- she has been so well prepared for this. she served as the assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations. we claimer as a think tank as well -- claim her as a think tanker as well. we cannot be more grateful for her for making time to visit with us today. after we have their remarks, jim lewis is going to moderate the session where we bring you

into the conversation. he may have some stories of his own. i forewarning of the conversations will be interesting. -- i forward knew that the conversation will be interesting. jim lewis has been a stalwart for this progress. take it away. thank you. >> you can do it from the podium, whatever you prefer. >> thank you very much for that introduction. it was a good introduction. this is the promotion for csis as well. i am honored to be here. i do not hesitate a moment when i was asked to come when i saw it was one of the organizers. that brought very fond memories of when i was here 15 years ago.

i want to think the security roundtable for organizing this. it is an excellent opportunity to talk about very important subjects dear to both europe and the u.s. there are new ways that corporations can be born. we have to win the battle of everyone trying to interrupt our lives. this is a true challenge within only overcome together. i would like to tell you about the joint operation in the field of child sexual exploitation. the name of this operation was atlantic.

it was completed two months ago. thanks to the operation between the fbi in several member states, an international network of child sex offenders was dismantled. several arrests were made on both sides of the atlantic. eight small children could be saved. it prevented further horrific expenses of these children. we are grateful for the professionalism and dedication i have seen to fight this horrible crime. yesterday i had the opportunity to be briefed about cyber crime and how you work. we saw a lot of ground for things we can learn from our u.s. friends. this has reinforced my view that we need this.

these are targets for different types. our government and our assistance are protected from sophisticated attacks. they can come from other sources from other state and hackers. to overcome this growing threat, this is not a choice. it is a necessity. the establishment is to identify strategic goals. i am leaving our work together with the secretary of homeland's security and the attorney general eric holder as secretary james lute -- jane lute. we have very good partners on

the american side. this working group has been a success. we have the first exercise of 2011 that kicked off a ground breaking program. the working group has also been instrumental in raising international awareness of the problem associated with the issues of domain names. it is still possible to register a domain under mickey mouse or this or that. 50% at the data to the domains contains complete identity information. it is not possible for law enforcement to trade investors. after considerable pressure from the e you, we have seen a commitment from the internet -- eu, we have seen a commitment from the internet on recommendations. we must continue to deliver this upcoming meeting.

this will be decisive if we are to succeed. we are concerned about child sexual exportation online. we have seen an unprecedented expansion of the market for child abuse images. this is a horrible crime. although we have successfully disrupted networks, we must do much more. alongside the cooperation with the u.s., the eu lack to do its own homework to make cyberspace safer. online organized crime ranges from selling stolen credit cards to as low as one euro to stealing identities. mr. they feel comfortable -- we need to make sure they feel comfortable. it is a matter of the economy. the people do not dare to use the benefits, that will have disastrous consequences as well. we must insure that inflation keeps up to this. legislation is running after.

we hope to agree on a legislation to update our current legislation including measures to address the rising threat. this is important but not enough.

we must also equip law enforcement agencies to respond to a threat. months ago, we addressed a setting up a cyber crime center that will be established in the nether lands. this'll be a european focal point. it'll help prevent illegal online activities such as online fraud involving credit cards. it will also work closely with social networks. it will focus on cyber crime that causes the most harm including sexual exploitation. we hope this will be an unviable resources for states providing operational support saw in gathering intelligence from a wide range of sources.

this will be used to warn states and major cyber crime threats and alert them to weaknesses on there on my defenses. the center will also work closely with the private sector. the center will not only -- it will also become a national partner for initiatives and law enforcement agencies in the site. you will hear more about this in a second panel. as you have heard, we have a strong package of measures to address. we must align these with initiatives that we are taking in the wider field of cyber security. some states in the european

union have already quite advanced strategies in place. i am well aware of the u.s. strategy as well and the efforts given. it to be important for us to raise the level so that everybody is at the same level. it is also time for the european union to set a mission on how we can do was security. we need everyone to work together and to share that responsibility. our strategy, and it is ours because it'll be a joint product of several colleagues within the commission, we are stepping up our efforts to ensure cyber security. we're working together to deal with cyber strategy. it is a work in progress. let me give you a few elements of what we intend to cover.

we intend to communicate the important message that freedom and security in cyberspace is not mutually exclusive. the virtue of an open cyberspace has to be maintained while providing the right levels of security. we need to have a cyber security resilience and response capacity. we must become better at sharing critical and information in secure and confidential matters between private sectors in the

eu member states. this is a major issue in the u.s. there are areas we can work together to enhance the sharing of information through transatlantic partnership. we know that the private sector owns and runs most of the infrastructure. they must have the incentives to improve their own security and to coordinate much more effectively with in the national authorities and with each other. the private sector can and

should be much better at managing risks and exchanging information when security breaches do occur. we know that governments are trying to mandate better security. we have to seek out new intelligent ways of working to improve the coordination and increased the joint paneling. we also need better software, more resilient technology in the future. the eu will continue. since the cyber threat is a global threat, we need global corporation. we need to find out how the you can reach out to the partners. the work in this regard is a good example. instead of focusing on institutional set up, we have built upon the budapest confusion and tightened if i

complete actions to make citizens and businesses safe. i am convinced that in the coming months, we will be able to report back on many successful joint operations between the fbi reports. we have found some good work. it isn't present. -- it is impressive. we should be proud of ourselves. we have to be honest. the bad guys have the upper hand. the only way to change the game and our favorite is for us to act quickly and act together. i am hopeful that we can win the debate. i am hopeful we can win the battle. i am looking for good suggestions, discussions, and the beginning of an even bigger partnership. thank you. [applause] >> good morning. during the introduction you mentioned, and security was the third largest apartment with 270,000 employees -- you mentioned homeland's security

was the third largest department would to under 70,000 employees. someone leaned over to me and said that is -- with over 270,000 employees. some leaned over to me and said "that is luxembourg." [laughter] i want to thank partners for giving us the opportunity to speak with our european colleagues, which is something we are doing with increasing frequency. my colleagues and i had just concluded in negotiation with sylvia and her colleagues on a major data exchange. it is an instructive experience. not least in giving us a deep and abiding insight into the new europe. i was at a meeting where i was confused about the views.

she was puzzled. whatever colleagues said she met the -- one of her colleagues said she met the former soviets. this young woman looked at me and said that is not new europe. new europe is all of us, post- lisbon. that is the new europe that we need to learn and understand. it has been an extraordinary experience for us to get to know the commission, at the council, the parliament in great did tell and capital as they are adjusting to life post- lisbon with highly invigorated and responsible institutions. cyber security is why we are here to talk about. not only our partnership but the problems in cyber security generally. this has a key role for the united states. i find that when i talk about

the role of common security, it is almost as important to talk first about not just the cyber role but as, and security more generally. we have great brand name recognition. we have something less than great brand name understanding of what it means. we do. what are we trying to do in this department in this endeavor that we call home and security? i will talk a little bit about that in touch on our strategy. we will embrace the theme of international partnership and what we're trying to do with the europeans around the world in the area of cyber security. common security has the core mission of a helping to create a safe and resilience place. this is our motivation. that is our touchstone. we think in order to do this we must prevent terrorism, certainly. this is job one.

secure our borders. not only do we need to keep out people or goods that might be dangerous, but we need to expedite legitimate trade and travel. we need to do both things. we need to manage immigration. what is this about? it is about capable communities and responsive federal system. i spent most of my career in national security. it is common to think of home and security as a piece of common security. -- it is to think of homeland security as just a piece of homeland security. it is different. it is different than the national security in ways that matter for cyber security. national security is centralized in a strategic. homeland's security is a decentralized and bottom driven. it is driven by municipalities

of this country. this is animated in the first instance by the means of the municipalities and states and of all the american people. if national security is about all of us, homeland security is about each of us. no single department can do all that needed doing when it comes to any aspect of common security. in the case of cyber security, no single government can do all that needs doing as well. it is an important difference to understand this.

it animates how we approach all of our tasks. be called out cyber security and the importance of a safe and secure cyberspace as a core mission, because we believe that cyberspace is the and a skeleton of modern life. it is the endoskeleton of modern society. it is impossible to imagine a resilient place for the united states and americans and for our global partners around the world. what do i mean by that that's what does it take to ensure cyber security? insuring the fidelity and reliability of our information and the security of our identities in exchanging information. the rest is commentary.

how do we secure those two things? we have a strategy for cyber security. we think we need to do two basic things, protect the critical infrastructure and build a healthy resilience cyber ecosystem. how do we protect critical infrastructure? 90% of the critical infrastructure rests and private-sector hands. we operate in homeland's security with the principle of nothing about you without you. we were close with the private sector with addressing the needs of cyber security for these critical infrastructures as well. we need to establish situational awareness. what is happening tax how do we

reduce the risks and exposures to that exposure? how do we build and resilience to the infrastructures so they can withstand challenges that they face the ax when it comes to building a cyber ecosystem, we focus on empowering individuals. we need smart individuals and smart machines. we need to build out individual organizations that are responsive. we need to promote services, products, and architecture is. we need to build fundamentally collaborative communities and how they can operate together. it is fair to say that when it comes to cyber security, there

is a significant misperception out there. there's a significant opportunity. what is the misperception? when it comes to cyber security, the role of government is clear. that is a misperception. it is not clear. what is the problem? the problem is the view of the role of government is polarized. there is a great debate going on among those who are paying attention. this might be characterized as follows. there are those that believe the government has no meaningful role to play in cyber

security. it certainly has grown and expanded and generated the new walt that it has, representing the dynamic force that it is in a way that was largely a result of market driven forces. the government should have no role in intruding in this space in the name of cyber security. on the other hand are those that think it is a war zone and that it is so dangerous and so urgent that government must come and forcefully to establish his scenes of cyber rig established regimes of cyber security. in our view, this is not acceptable. government do have a role to play. they must play a role here. cecilia mentioned the dialogue going on with the eu institutions and how to think through the appropriate role to play when it comes to balancing freedom and openness and access to the internet with security. how do we build that openness

and that access any way that also insurers resilience? how do we understand the role of the private sector when there are so critical to the very functioning of the internet? how do we inshore global cooperation for building cyber security? the policy identifies a number of priorities for the country and approaching international standards, innovation, and the role of the internet. we want to protect our economic livelihood. we think standards and innovative market ensure this. we want to protect our networks. we want to strengthen the hand of law enforcement and extent collaboration to enhance confidence in cyberspace. we also know that when it comes to internet governance that it

is a multi stakeholder model and it is the right approach. we believe in a strongly. we believe in the power of the internet for international development. what does this mean at the end of the day? we will continue our responsibilities to safeguard the infrastructure and to build up this ecosystem we believe is imperative. networks are supported by intelligent protocols and what the federal engagement is responses and appropriately positioned. none of this can be done alone. there is no more important partner than our partner in the european union. i mentioned that my colleagues and i have just concluded in negotiation on this major

exchange. at the heart of this negotiation which took 18 months, it actually took nine years. i need a chair. i am pleased to say that we successfully concluded on this agreement and hope we do not need another one for the next seven years. at the heart of this negotiation was the issue of privacy. how do we ensure cyber security? how do we ensure the privacy and protection of the exchange of information? this is at the heart of the cyber security debate as well. we have different views of privacy.

i and no american or european legal expert. there is a way to characterize the differences of views. from an american point of view, privacy is about limiting government from intruding in our lives. from the european point of view, it is about controlling one's information want to put it out there. these are two very different views. they're equally legitimate. the heart of our agreement was in recognizing the legitimacy of each other's point of views in terms that each other find important. we will succeed. i mentioned there was a misperception on the role of government. in the debate, it is dominated by extreme views. the opportunity exists in

partnerships such as we have with the european union to solve these problems in an inclusive way that helps creates a resilience cyberspace for us all. thank you very much. [applause] >> of a like to thank both of our speakers. they have a somewhat packed schedule. we have a few minutes for questions. if i could ask you if you have a question to raise your hand, identify yourself, and get the microphone. john, are you kidding? do you have a question? [laughter] it is okay with me. i can identify you. >> it is best to see you both. secretary lute articulated the multistate colder model. i would be interested in the european perspective on that. you mentioned the plot to take over the internet.

what is this from the european perspective? >> that is a short question to a long answer. i know you have debate on internet governance. the truth is that this is part of the work i was alluding to. i am doing it to formulate a joint cyber strategy. these issues will be dumped upon as well. we have to make sure that all the 27 countries are on board. some have their own strategies. some are not as advanced. we must make sure that everybody is a board -- aboard. we are having this discussion that this would be ready by the end of the year.

i cannot tell you much about this. we are in the process of identifying our reviews. this is important. there is the commitment to the budapest convention. wherever we go, countries are implemented. it is very much at the heart of where we are parting from. we hope he can be clear. >> thank you. the question in the corner? >> thank you. is this working? i am an ambassador. i would like to thank you for your representative -- for your

presentations. my question is to both of you. only talk about corporations with the third countries, they are not paying attention to cyber security. in short, they do not see the advantage of cooperation in cyber security. what are the means to involve those countries into cyber security corporation? thank you perce >> perhaps i will start. -- thank you. >> perhaps i will start. i met with their colleagues when i was recently in luxembourg. there are big questions relating to cyber as well as other things.

i was recently somewhere where the government is quite dazed with the importance of cyber security. this report a wonderful saying. by the third of fourth hand, you know longer properly attribute it. i believe that to him. he said there are two types of organizations in the world, those who have been hacked and those who do not know they have. some have to confront the reality of eight cyber attack intrusion and even disaster. surely we cannot wait for that to be the case. there the process, we believe a ecosystem for everyone is aware of their responsibility. we think machines are users. can we create machines that are shipped with the cyber security

capabilities already enabled so they do not have to be activated? that can provide part of the defense. users at all levels beginning with young children, understanding their vulnerability. it is outrageous that we live in a time 25 years after the creation and growing of the internet that there is not a single activity one can undertake in cyberspace confident that your identity would not be compromised. for some, you cannot even plug in your computer. that is unacceptable. we have to do better.

this begins with a frank dialogue at every level. >> thank you. what to start by congratulating on the work. we like your professionalism. there's also the work of your president. it is very inspiring to many of us. we discussed the need of this cyber strategy. it can understand a country like estonia would be frustrated. this is what i was talking about. this is a very important challenge to make some countries who do not have this preparation and are much mall from mobile -- are much more vulnerable. did they do not have the infrastructure to deal with this. that we get them on board and that we get them into cooperation. i hope very much that the cyber

center will speak this afternoon. this can be a focal point to encourage, help, and encouraged. i mentioned the u.s.. that is an obvious part. the interval of setting up one in singapore. it is not in place yet. it has a few years yet to go. this could be a partner for us as well. this is the best tool we have. we need as many countries as possible to control the community. it is a struggle. it is difficult. we need to be very focused. the cyber criminals are further than we are. we have to make sure that we can make the internet a safe place or people are comfortable living there. it is also going back to the individuals. >> we have two up here.

>> and the washington correspondent for european politics. you mentioned your plans to do a new eu legislative proposal. i am wondering if you can tell us more about what kind of proposals you have in mind. has the u.s. signed up to that? >> on your first question, maybe it was a bit out there. it is already on the table. we proposed it two years ago. it is updating our current legislation on cyber. it has been outdated. it contains an element on -- new elements on cyber crime and criminalizing the use of malware. you will hear more about that. he is an expert.

this has not been decided tomorrow. we're making good progress. >> another? >> george washington university. for the commissioner, they mentioned the intersection between cyber security in traditional types of questions. the european union does not have many confidences when it comes to military security. does that leave a vacuum there? how are people trying to fill that? there have been discussions over the last few years about a

possible blanket agreements calling all the variety of issues where homeland's security and privacy intersect with each other. what do you think the prospects of that are after the recent conclusions? >> you're absolutely right. when it comes to more military security, the european union as such does not have this. there are issues where they operate bilaterally. this is very high on the agenda. the mere fact of gathering of this center and having it on the agenda also creates platforms were people get the practices. this hopefully will create a dynamism that also can be useful in that field. we do not count on building up any european union competency. we have enough to do that as it

is. it can also be useful in that regard. there is a limited amount of people who work. they may need to disregard this as well. >> i am very bullish on the european cooperation. on an upswing, i will comment on the ongoing negotiations about the umbrella agreement. it is important that our dialogue is essential. at cannot imagine the united states proceeding in any area without being in close dialogue with our european partners. when we were in luxembourg, we had about 5 4/6 additional things that we want to put on our agenda.

we will. to your specific question, there is that ongoing conversation. i am optimistic that this dialogue will not only remain, but will develop an important if that is possible to imagine. they have lost the ability to say anything is impossible. everything is there for policy. -- therefore possible. >> i would like to say that some of the most innovative thinking between governments and multilateral institutions certainly in our own dialogue reflex some of, at least -- relfects, at least in my experience, some of the most innovative thinking and willingness to confront novel issues that i have ever seen. some issues are as hard as they get.

these problems occur against a backdrop of interesting developments. the rest of the world is not standing still. i recently talked to my colleagues about the world's 5 billion. there are five things that claimed the minds of people appeared being india, it being chinese, of being catholic, and being on facebook. -- minds of people. being in india, of being chinese, being catholic, and being on facebook. there is the emerging importance of the internet. it holds for the world's population as we conduct and conclude our conversations across a range of issues. >> i think we have time for one more question. if not, what i am going to do is say it is great seeing you two together. there are two places that should have shared values and i think it is the cooperation between the u.s. and the eu. with that, join me in thanking our speakers. [applause]

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] if i could ask the members of the first panel to come up? that was great. >> will have more from the discussion in just a moment. the u.s. house is in recess until 4:00 p.m. they will consider a senate bill to allow various activities on the capitol grounds. later this week, cutting federal spending and setting spending for the next budget year, as well as science programs. live coverage when the house returns at 4:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. we continue now from the center for strategic and international studies. speakers include the deputy

assistant director of the fbi as well as the assistant director of operations at your local -- at europol. this is just under an hour. >> i am very pleased that we can start our next session on cyber crime. we heard quite a bit on this this morning. it is my pleasure to introduce a moderator for this session, a member of the european parliament since 2009. we are glad that you came over here and made the trip. a member of the special committee on financial, economic, and social crises. the special committee on

organized crime, corruption, and money laundering and on the delegation for relations of the people's republic of china. she was previously a member of the bavarian government in germany for education and cultural affairs, and most importantly, she was the legislator on the european cyber crime center to be situated at the hague in the netherlands. this is a very responsible position. my congratulations on that. we are very interested in following the work you do and very pleased for you to be here. thank you very much. >> i welcome you to the second panel on the fight against cyber crime. a very interesting issue.

to answer brian and, because you had the question about criminal law regulation, and we are now in the trial with this new regulation. the european parliament and the commission together would like to have a more european approach in the field of detecting cyber crime. as you know, cyber crime is international, and so would like to have a common, european approach. in the illegal excess definition, illegal system interference, illegal interceptions in a common definition of tools used for committing offenses,

instigation, aiding and abetting in the attempt, the definition of penalties, that offenses should be punishable with a maximum term of imprisonment of least two years , and aggravating circumstances of five years. cornyn we discussed with members that at this moment, the corporation between european union and member states project cooperation, the transfer of the transatlantic -- local operation to private companies. we discuss something like minimum standards. we discussed that member states should introduce some things are implement something like minimum standards like a certification system for minimum standards in cybersecurity, because criminal

regulations, we think are the last up and a long chain of steps. -- the last set in a long chain of steps. we are trying to get through our new regulations and i think we will have three or four trials and i hope we will have success in the next two months. one of the subject will be the training. we'll have one specialist of the fta, the specialist for training. to introduce the issue of the fight against cyber crime, i think most of the population is not aware that cyber crime is really high profit and low risk.

you earn a lot of money, but nobody asks you what you did. that is the situation. most of the population, if i am discussing with people in my member state of germany, they are really very astonished to hear what is happening in the field of cyber crime. there are reports such as that we lose about 380 billion worldwide at -- but nobody can trust the figures because it is not easy to have a valuation of the damage of cyber crime. but when that thing -- but one thing should be clear, that cyber crime is more profitable than the global trade combined. so we should think about cybersecurity and we should think about tackling cyber

crime. the european parliament has the same goal as the u.s. we want to maintain confidence in secure online communication and trade, so we have to think of cyber crime, and from the beginning, cyber crime is a cross border issue. we have to cooperate and we have to strengthen cooperation. i am glad i can introduce to you or panelists that we head of, the deputy assistant director of the fbi. thank you very much. we have the most famous adviser of the european parliament. he is assistant director of operations at europol.

stephen, would you like to start? >> thank you, i appreciate the opportunity to be here today. there is no doubt that the introduction of cyber crime required and -- a coordinated response. at the fbi, as a larger group, we decided to consider that the relationship both with the government and nonprofit organizations as part of the international solution. i don't really think that in this space as we move forward, to think that the u.s. agencies can do this within the united states without the assistance of the private sector, both internationally and domestically, or without our international partners. we have changed our view together with our partners over the years of what that type of cooperation really needs to look like.

a primary example of our relationships with both private sector and its members, in that we move past considering information sharing to be the key and move toward collaboration as being the key. we found most of the original discussions in the area of cybersecurity were based on what date you have, what information and products to have, how are you going to disseminate those as broadly as possible? the problem is too big for that to be the appropriate solution. we ended up throwing a lot of noise into the system and receiving a lot of noise. noise meaning it was information that either was not relevant to our mission and our efforts to protect the systems, or try to find attribution against the threat actors, or it could be relevant information, but of the kind that we already know. so what we found is from the perspective of really making a difference, and thinking through today's panels and how we are looking at this in the future,

we started recognizing a trend, that where we are most successful, was not because we were sharing information, but because we were working together, side by side, collaborating and figuring out common strategies. and our relationship with the trading alliance is one of those relationships. we are also on the ground with our international partners, the fbi has over 70 offices abroad. we have relationships with over 200 nations where we are actively engaging in cybersecurity efforts, not by just throwing information over the fence, if you will, but really sitting side by side in coming up with common approaches, prioritizing what the biggest problems are, figuring out joint solutions, recognizing everybody's authority be that within the private sector are within government, and then creating out of that a strategy against the problem. that has to be the biggest lesson we have learned. now when i hear people talking

about information sharing, i am really listening for information sharing a side-by-side, or just the notion of sending things out. collaboration is working well. i am sure there will be opportunities afterwards, i am not sure that i can leave right now. i want to encourage that point of view. thank you. >> a short approach to our new panel. the next one, because europol has a lot of cooperation with the fbi authorities. >> thank you very much. allow me, even though we should

focus on the corporation that i take some kind of step toward explaining what is going on in the european union right now. i will try to focus in four areas, given the challenges of the european soccer crime center and the u.s. cooperation, and what it has given. everybody knows there is a connection, that is a given. indeed, we actually are even more interconnected, by 72% of the population. because we are so dependent, it also brings new risks. cyber crime is already being exploited and will continue to be exploited by hackers and foreign intelligence services. because of the network systems are vulnerable, it is difficult to detect and there can be

nothing like absolute security. we have to recognize this. we recognize this in the eu and i hope you also recognize this in the united states. there is a difference in opinion sometimes about security. we see this in how you protect your borders and how the eu protect our borders. cyberspace is commercially driven, and that is also why we need to cooperate with the private sector. i don't think we are very good at that in europe, compared to the u.s., but we will learn. the law enforcement community, unfortunately -- and i have to admit this, in various areas, work very slowly in the offline world, and in the on-line world, we need to react even faster. we need, therefore, to step up some of the things that we are doing, and that is also why i am happy to be here together with

you and with the european parliament. i agree, completely, stephen. we should prioritize what we are doing. there is all kinds of crime, and some are more important than others. so we have to prioritize it. we also have to focus on what not to do. we cannot do everything, but we have to focus on this. we will hope that the eu and u.s. cooperation will facilitate and create actually working in handling the internet. we also have to facilitate some kind of understanding in this wild west internet that what is not permitted in the offline world should not be permitted in the on-line world. there are no free lunches. you cannot just give up and say that this should regulate itself. i have the pleasure to coordinate efforts in an area of 500 million people. 27 individual states and 23 different languages. this is challenge, i can assure

you. i am sure that you will say that you have your challenges, and you have one state, one language, and one legal framework, but this exactly what i have to deal with. we should focus on combating the illegal activities and not try to restrict access to the internet. it might be easier said than done, but it is actually are target. what is the aim, and what should it do? has been set up by communication from the commissioner who is our minister of interior in the european union. it has to be endorsed by the 27 member states, which will hopefully happen on the eighth of june. after that it will go to the parliament, and the parliament will discuss. they have to give some kind of funding to it. they will deal with it. we should be up and running by the first of january, 2013.

that gives me about seven months. what we have taken in our approach is a very inclusive approach. this is not a europol entity. not just a police sting. it has a more inclusive out reach. -- not just a police thing. for all information an area from law enforcement and private sector. basically, everybody can report the crime. you can do it from germany and i can do it from denmark. will they all work on the sam -- on the same web page, how will we coordinated? -- how will we coordinate it? we have to give some kind of

been for -- education and information about what to do and what not to do. then we have to create operational support in four areas, intrusion, intellectual property rights, and child sexual abuse, at a high-level pri because we have such a big area, we will be relying on the member states. 400 support. it costs a fortune to operate -- forensic support. lushing 27 member states try to develop each and every step by themselves -- why should 27 member states try to develop each and every step by themselves? to collect requirements, create and give it back to the member states. capacity building -- the eu is

very different. we have states that are very high at this type of crime agenda. the u.k., germany, and others. but we also have member states that are not as good as the other ones. we are only as secure as the weakest link. we have to educate law enforcement staff, but not just law enforcement, also prosecution and judges. they need to have some kind of inside. then we have the specific roles and the cyber crime center to protect the critical infrastructure in the eu. this is a huge task. this is already being done by the new agency protecting the infrastructure, but it is not a real time agency. in order to create real time responses, we need to also be real time. instead of building this capacity, which already exist, we would like to have a system in the center instead, so they

continue to do their very valuable and high quality work that will actually benefit all of us. the most interesting thing for the europeans is the out reach of the public and private sector. yesterday i visited ron in pittsburg, where we already have one agent working, and there will be another one coming. i hope we can actually have a permanent agent. i am impressed that the u.s. is dealing with the private sector in this and you can create these non class areas that you can exchange and work side-by-side. it is actually working, identifying it. i think we will try to do the same in europe, if we can. i am not trying to reinvent the wheel. ,e'll take advantage of this and we will also try to be -- and this is the most important thing for the center, to be the european collective voice in this area. if you or a collective voice, you speak not just for law

enforcement but for the private partners, for the industry, and for the population. what we will try to do is having all this inside, to be able to say to the legislature, this is the problem, now you deal with that with efficiency. in this way we will try to do our best. we need to develop a trusting relations for the critical infrastructure. as stephen said, it is not just receiving, we have to reach out and work with them on the spot. without hampering privacy, and here we have a balanced, just like if you have a house and someone has tried to break in several times, you report this to the police. if someone is trying to break into your infrastructure, you also report this to the police. we will include -- will include the agencies already in the business.

from education, capacity building, to forensic research and development to investigation and also prosecution. eurojust, to include enics, cepo, and they will all be members of our program board. so they can advise us on what to do and what not to do. we also need to go outside and include key partners in support with the global innovation center. singapore will be one of them. in talks with interpol, and we meet frequently, every second month. we need to see what can they do and what can we do. there's a need for complementarity. there is no need to have a competition about this. there is enough for anybody -- there is enough for everybody, anyway. we will try to do our best.

we are ready work with the virtual global task force in fighting sexual abuse of children. the european financial coalition and an ngo in the year. but we need also to take a step further -- in the year. bge in the eu. we are already working in cyber crime. we are not just scaling up this work in the ecb. why was europol chosen to be the host? there are a number of reasons. first of all because we are already active. second is our very robust data machine. we are the only agency in the eu who are allowed to receive, process, and store data on people who are not convicted, but only suspected of crime, in

order to pinpoint the worst of the worst and make the connections between all the investigations of the member states. we are also heavily scrutinized. we have a section that assesses these cases the case by case. this gives us the ability, and we will not just for information that is not used. we should scale up cooperating with the fbi. i hope that the fbi will also post a liaison officer when they see worthwhile and vice versa. when we work with the fbi child sexual abuse, and we are increasingly working with others. i have to say that the fbi is very much on a bilateral approach. i think the fbi would like to work with the nations, the member states, but this system will now. the center will now coronate --

coordinates. croatia will join the union very soon and i think we will have an adjustment in the way we work. ice, we work predominately with sexual abuse cases. and secret service and abroad, especially credit card fraud. we hope the u.s. will also implement the chip over here because they change the magnetic stripe, and that will help us a lot. [unintelligible] under the leadership of vice, but also -- under the leadership of ice but with the cooperation of the fbi. we want to change information exchange information that we get from private companies with what you get from private companies. the detection risk is rather low, i would say. if you decide to enter bank with

a gun and you are physically there and you get away with 100,000 euros -- id you do the same blackly trying fraud, we have seen a number of fraud cases. we have lost 8 billion in six months. nobody knows where the money is. but this is all done on a computer, and basically with limited risks. i also think that the u.s. has an understanding which is a mistake, that they exchanged information with europol, they automatically exchange with all the 28 member states. this is absolutely not true. we have codes that allow us to protect the honor of the information. if we do not want to exchange information with some member states, we will not do it. but coordination is key. the final remarks, the european

cyber crime center will deliver, of course. we know there are countries out there that we might not like to work with, for various reasons. we will try to do the right things and try to do them good. promise and hopefully over performer, not the other way around. we will strive to inform the policymakers based on facts. i want to thank the commissioner for her strong political leadership in this important field and for spending time on this and trying to get it right in a very difficult environment. it will not come for free, but the question is not if we can afford it, the question is can we afford not to? i will end by being an optimist. work together, and i am quite confident that we can, we will beat the criminals.

thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you very much for that very good overview. our third panelist, a specialist for private-public corporations. >> i would like to start by thanking monika and other panelistst. roels drove out -- our other panelists. troels drove out to pittsburg yesterday. steve, fbi soccer division -- cyber division. i have a few comments, not as detailed as troels.

i would like to introduce you to who we are and what we are and invite you all to come up to pittsburg, pennsylvania. first and foremost, it is not inside the beltway or inside washington, d.c. intimation sharing takes place at the speed of networking -- information sharing takes place at the speed of networking. we like to say it is in pittsburgh because we won three super bowls and six stanley cups and others. especially since the capitals are doing so well and the penguins find themselves on the sidelines. all move away from hockey, but alico --at toquote great to quote a longtime friend. howard smith spoke, and if you'd

think about what is taking place from an e commerce standpoint, over a trillion dollars was moved in commerce last year. we focused on that and a variety of ways, but would consider backing clearinghouse broad. others consider it probably not the correct acronym correct butwtf, or reject corrected but -- probably not the correct acronym, but wtf, wore a wire transfer fraud. i am honored to represent the national -- before anyone knew what a fusion center was or what a private-public alliance was, that is how we term ourselves, or a public-private alliance. i came in as a ceo about four

years ago. specifically, we focus on cyber crime, the worst of the word, and how it is happening. intellectual property crime, the nation state gets in there, but i would rather stay away from that, especially since i have a colleague on the panel who represents china. at the end of the day, attribution is a very tricky thing. networks that are being utilized by organized criminals, are the same networks doing all the other things. it is a challenge not so much for us as our law enforcement partners, both here and internationally as well. with that, from our standpoint, it is all about return on investment.

why would a private sector corporation want to partner with an organization? they need to see immediate return on investment, that their money or partnership would pay dividends to them. the same with our law enforcement partners. the fbi, thank you for your kind words. the fbi was a co-founder of the organization back in the late 1990's and has been there ever since. steve's cyber division has a unit colocate it with us -- with us.ied homeland security investigations is also there. dea as well as a handful of other agencies that we share capacity with.

the history is on our website, so i would refer you to the website. i hearken back a long time ago to when i first met steve, i was a board member and he was an attorney then with the fbi. he sat down with us to figure out, how you set up a collaborative center in which you can share information related to cyber threats? back then we call them computer threats, back in the late 1990's. how do you do it legally? steve was instrumental on behalf of the fbi as well as csis in putting together a formal on how to do it in a legal framework. the legal framework for a standby today is one in which we enter into legal agreements for the sharing of information toward cigarettes -- towards

threats. some would refer to those goals as disruption, dismemberment, and destruction. the idea is to get out ahead of the threat actors. i thank the center for hosting this today. i think the issues are more important than a lot of citizens understand. the threat actors are sharing real-time, we get together in conferences and daily. what i do is manage and try to figure it out in real time as well. we have to do so within the con fines of law as well as treaties, etc., regulations, as well we should. the threat actors do not. they do not have to care about

that. there lies the tremendous challenge. with that, a little bit about us. we are a nonprofit. it is similar to like the red cross, the red crescent would be organized internationally. we are lucky to have partners worldwide. 34 countries which share information with. as i speak to you now, seven countries represented in this room, you have to look at the list. we have law-enforcement agents detail to our location for 90 days. the only way we are able to do that is not only with the cooperation of stephen the fbi but also with the cooperation of the private sector. the private sector is helping us an underwriting the deployment of those agents to pittsburgh, pennsylvania. believe it or not, they are very excited to be in pittsburgh, pennsylvania. i would be remiss if i do not

say we are also hosting europol. this was borne out of necessity. last year at a conference where law enforcement private industry gathered, we all decided, would it be great to get everyone in a room to start sharing not only national and some international dimensions of the problem, but start sharing on what law enforcement accomplishes insider member states, in your member nations? we see each other aniline conferences that different parts of the world, and successfully as the fbi has done in near -- in multi jurisdictional cases with a lot in this room. we got to know the individuals, and we said what if we would colocate? we offered the opportunity in pittsburgh, pa.. our private sector partners are

happy to underwrite that and i would be remiss if i did not thank them. with that, we also are looking forward to part drink with europol, and working that out simultaneously. we are also working with trying to figure out relation with interpol. we hosted them in the fall and recently as well. other countries have spent a lot of time with us that are not in this room. why is the question? the answer lies in the information that is being shared. that informations being shared by the private sector. i cannot speak to the european union states that are represented here or the members, but in the united states, i know

that close to 90% of that private-sector -- private- sector owns 9% of the critical infrastructure. if the threat actors do their deep -- owns 90% of the critical infrastructure. if the threat actors do their deeds. we organized ourselves around trends or threats, what is happening today? we are part and with a lot of u.s. and non u.s. financial partners. trade organizations represent them, and i ate may speak on a pallet in baltimore -- i've speak on a panel in baltimore .

it does not mean they are not after other things. we are happy to partner with hsi, and there is a lot of focus in the last couple of weeks dealing with intellectual property rights issues. nations dates, we do trip over that, but it is more -- nation states. whether it is counterfeit luxury goods, counterfeit pharmaceuticals. we do share a lot of information related to that. mobil is ubiquitous. there are more cell phones coming on line and people are buying computers worldwide. mobil is a huge problem. there is a mobile boulware

across platforms -- mobile malware. would focus on those larger areas. most importantly, the confluence, the infrastructure that supports threat actors and the promulgation of the direct threat, be it spear fishing or anything like that. i just wanted to give you the highlights of who we are, and thank you for allowing me to come here to share some thoughts, and hopefully we will get into some good questions and answers here in a moment. i would be remiss if i did not monika, and to thank you for your attention over the last several minutes. thank you. [applause]

>> thank you very much, ron. i think we have 15 minutes until lunch for questions. because the was so sure that i would have some questions it is because steeg was so sure that i would have some questions. i would ask bikeseuropol and some member states that the cooperation with u.s. companies is not easy sometimes, especially if cases must be treated very quickly -- i would ask -- i was asked by europol and some member states. how can you help provide and share the information needed, because sometimes it is cannot

very easy for us, for the to law enforcement agencies to work with u.s. companies. for instance, discussing it they get some information or not. >> in terms of working with the private sector, obviously i have an ability to provide you with -- i'd do not have an ability to provide you with what they would tell you right now, because corporate america is under legal restrictions in their own privacy considerations that are very difficult for them to handle in a transnational world. they have all sorts of issues with conflict laws and the like. if you ask one of the private sector companies up here, i probably would not be doing justice to the issues and how they are trying to battle those equities in an increasingly

global world. there are more lost than there are languages. than there are languages. the way we have done it in the united states, i would say there are three things simultaneously. we work with individual victim companies, both those that we believe are likely to become victims, and those who are current victims. we refer to that as every field office of the fbi three of the entire country is responsible for knowing their responsibility and getting out to the community and working with the primary owners and operators of the critical infrastructure. we have a very personal relationship with a lot of those companies to build up a level of trust that would not exist just by the force of being federal law enforcement, and they being u.s. companies. i think it still requires us to do that out reach. on top of that, we organized a

group that started out a number of years ago with about 200 people in three cities. cleveland, columbus, an indianapolis, were the fbi brought together local business interests and to start discussing problems that initially were cyber centric, because nobody discuss them as extended to all matters. we found a lot of appetite for getting together routinely, so that different corporations that were in different disciplines have a forum to actually meet with each other can and the -- each other and the fbi in advance of an incident, so they were comfortable speaking to us when it occurred. since that time, the group has grown to being over 85 chapter strong throughout the united states, and having over 50,000 members. it is something we had to work on. it is not as though we knocked on the doors and immediately had a reaction that was different

than what you are posing. the last area we worked with is working with nonprofit organizations that represent a multitude of interests. some of those are sector specific, like financial services information and analysis center, which ron mentioned that they have a working relationship with, in addition to those organizations. we work with the international white-collar crime center, which is the largest reporting portal for fraud events and internet crime in the world. last year received over 300,000 incident report by working with this private sector, nonprofit organization. we get to analyze an aggregate and refer, so that we see commonalities across jurisdictions. that helps us work with industries as well. instead of getting 1000 requests for information about a common problem, they are getting one

request because we have done our labor before we come to them. the point that i would answer without speaking on behalf of private industry is that it takes effort at individual levels, and with large organizations that have representatives over the entire industry, and that has shown great success. at the end of the day, it builds trust in our partners coming to us and letting us know what their issues are, those issues that are most important to them, and where they cannot bend, the issues they are seen either for legal or corporate reason, and the same thing for us to express to our corporate partners that these are the areas that we need to be successful on behalf of our law enforcement or intelligence mission. these are the areas that we really need help in. that is the level of trust that

requires an effort over time that we developed literally over the past 14 years or so. >> are there any questions? [unintelligible] >> a very interesting conversation on cyber crime. i have to questions for the europeans on the panel. -- two questions. steve talked a little bit about the public-private relationship with the fbi could we have represented from the private sector who worked to aggregate this. what is the envisioned relationship between the private sector can and the new, european cyber crime center specifically? member states like the netherlands and the u.k. with the financial sector have very sophisticated relationships with their private sectors. how would that be aggregated at the european level, considering

it is not a single market, and cyber crime is a single market crime. i would be interested to know what the nature of the debate is in the european parliament about this european cyber crime center? it has a reputation for being very probing on these type of questions, in light of recent debates around accidents. what are some of the questions that parliament has as they get to the new system? >> i will try to answer the first question. first of all, the center will try to identify what is already going on. if the dutch are having a good relation with their private companies and with deutsche bank, we will just take the benefit of that. i think there is a gap here, and

that is what we are trying to actually see how big it is and what we can do about it. as soon as we identify it, and i have already had phone calls after the publication of the cyber center -- how can we get you to receive our information? that there is some kind of desperation in the private companies about getting away with that critical information, and doing it in a structured way where they receive anonymity so for competition reasons, they are not revealing anything. we would like to have the same system that you have in the u.s., that we can receive all this information either through the member states if it is already up and running. we will not duplicate it. then we have to reach elks outside the eu borders -- reach outside the eu borders. it is not the easy part, but it

is easier than the other thing, which we will have to ask private companies by subpoenas or court orders to give us information. because you own most of the companies, microsoft, aol, and all these, it is handled sometimes in a fragmented way because we have member states and it ends up in california at some prosecutor's office in a big pile of other papers. i would like to propose that based on need in the future, there could be an interest in posting an attorney -- and vice versa, because we also have a complicated system. in some countries, you can obtain information easily, and not in some others.

that is something that must be taken up in the discussions between parliament and the senate and maybe between the eu and a high level meetings with the u.s. >> i absolutely agree. what is the reaction of the european parliament? 90% of the parliamentarians welcome the initiative, because all the parliamentarians say the problems in the field of cyber crime, and most of the parliamentarians that have discussed problems about cyber crime in the last two or three months, they saw the huge damage caused by cyber crime, and the

problem that we see is that small member states are not always able to react as the big member states can react. estonia is an example of a small member state that is able to do this, but we have member states that are not able to react in the same way as, for example, great britain or germany or france and so on. so we would like to have really and information sharing in the member states. we would like to have better information to collect information in the european union. we would like to have all the information for all member states. we would like to have

operational access for smaller member states that are not able to do this. we would like to have professional training for all the prosecutors, for the lawyers, as reported a few minutes ago. to do this with 28 members that, you need a center that is responsible for this, and you need staff to do that -- could do this with 28 member states. if you do not do that, it is still a rose cloud. we would like to react in a quicker way. the thing that most of the parliamentarians agree, we in parliament are not able to react quickly and political decisions, but you have to react quickly in those decisions. that is why the directives are

all formulated in a technically neutral form, so we do not discuss specialties in a directive, but we give a mandate to the agencies, a mandate to the member states to react quicker and to react in a more common approach. i think the european cyber agencies will be welcomed by all the parliamentarians. we have some specialists, but i do not think they will have the maturity. we will have to get to the maturity in a better way. >> i think we are almost out of time. i was remiss in one of my comments talking about the eight countries that are colocate with us. i did not get permission from seven of those countries to let you know who they are -- a

countries that are colocate did with us. last week we were happy to formally announce with phil barden as well as the governor of pennsylvania, the deployment for the next handful of years for an agent. >> anybody else with a question? i think everybody is hungry or something like that. everybody is tired a little bit. .et's have a little break lunch is coming. thank you very much.

[applause] >> indeed, lunch has arrived. please help yourself at the back. we will get back to you with some more very informative and exciting discussions. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> right now on c-span3 we have live coverage of the house budget committee meeting. it would replace the automatic budget cuts set last year in the budget control act and specifically aimed at limiting troop levels. we spoke with the reporter more about the bill. we will watch this before live coverage of the house. >> we want to turn to the hill newspaper today. there is a store that house

lawmakers are returning to the familiar debate over the deficit and republic leaders are planning to bring up a measure to slash the budget gap and replace across-the-board spending cuts to take effect in 2013. russell berman joins us now on the phone from the hill newspaper. good morning to you. >> thanks for having me. >> tell us a little bit about what is going on with the sequestered in the committee hearing today and what the plans are. >> the house budget committee led by paul ryan instead of marking up the large proposal from house republicans, a total of $260 million is the product of six house committees, and the budget committee is going to eventually combine that into one bill, one or two bills. that includes $78 billion in

replacements for the sequestered set to take place in 2013. the sequestered which results in the failure of last year's super committee is $1.20 trillion over 10 years that the republicans are taking the first bite out of that this year by replacing most of the defense cuts, which both republicans and the pentagon have come out against, and replacing that with cuts to things like food stamps and other programs from the health care law and from the financial regulatory law. they are also adding on an additional $180 billion in cuts aimed at reducing the deficit, and of course democrats are expected to oppose this bill progressively. >> we have some stats up now about what the proposal does,

replacing $78 billion in sequestered cuts and an additional $180 billion to help reduce the deficit in a number of different areas. tell us again what republicans want to push for these changes and the agreement that they came to back when the budget control act was being put together as a sword of damocles to hang over congress. >> you are right, they called it a sword of damocles. their argument is that everybody always said that this was intended to force action, and democrats have said that, too, that nobody wanted these cuts to actually take effect, because the cuts were across the board and not targeted to specific programs. it would be counterproductive, and specifically, the defense cuts. republican's politically are using the fact that the pentagon

has warned against these cuts coming into effect as a way of making their argument that they should be replaced. democrats have a better problem themselves because they have acknowledged as well that they do not want to see the automatic cuts take effect. they are calling it in one of the reports a meat ax to the budget. it is not clear if the democrats will offer their own comprehensive proposal to replace them, that they have referred to their own proposal and the president's budget and house democratic budget, but it is not clear if there will be competing proposals on the floor this week. >> they both dismissed it and said it is not workable. what you think will happen with these sequestered cuts? is there going to be some sort of deal, and if so, when? >> there is very little hope that there will be a deal

anytime soon, and certainly not before the november election. we have talked a lot about the big lame-duck session that is expected after the november election, were reminds the deal that involves replacement of these cuts. this is all wrapped up politically in a series of expiring provisions, most notably the expiration of the bush tax cuts. they will have to raise the debt ceiling againso, it is possiblee that it encompasses three of those things, with three of those coming into a fax. >> while we have you, what is going on at on capitol hill this

week -- congress has said they will be leading the debate this week. guest: the fed is expected to hold a vote tuesday on student loans, the program and preventing the recent interest rates. the house passed the bill before they went on recess. the senate has a bill that would offset the cost, preventing the increase in the student loan rates, closing at tax loopholes for the -- >> the house is coming back in to consider a number of bills for upcoming events. live coverage on c-span. postponed questions will be taken after 6:30 p.m. today. for what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and adopt house concurrent resolution 105.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 105, concurrent resolution authorizing the use of the emancipation hall in the capitol visitor center phenomena an event to celebrate the birthday of the king. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from mississippi, mr. harper, and the gentlewoman from hawaii, ms. hanabusa, will each control 20 minutes. mr. harper: i ask that all members have five days to revise and extend their remarks. i yield myself such time as i may consume. i rise for authorizing the emancipation hall to celebrate the birthday of king kamehameha, a legendary figure in hawaiian history and culture. on june 11, the people of hawaii will celebrate the 96th annual

kamehameha day. commemorating the life of kamehameha, the great, who between 1795 and 1810 unified the islands into the kingdom of hawaii. known for being a fierce warrior who fought for unity and independence, king kamehameha was highly regarded for ruling with fairness and compassion. his law, known as the law of the splintered paddle, specifically protected civilians in war time and is today a model for human rights throughout the world. a statue of king kamehameha graces the capitol visitor center as part of the national statuary of hall collection. in adopting the resolution, we will authorize the use of this space for the celebration of his life and accomplishmentless. i thank the gentlewoman from hawaii, ms. hanabusa, for introducing this concurrent resolution and i urge my colleagues to support it. i reserve the balance of my time.

spape the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from hawaii is recognized. ms. hanabusa: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield my sufficient such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, house concurrent resolution 105 is to ask for the use of the emancipation hall in the visitors center for the celebration on june 24, 2012. this will be the 43rd time that we have celebrated the birthday of king kamehameha in the nation's capitol. mr. speaker, hawaii has a unique history. we are of course the 50th state and we are the only state to come with a kingdom as parent of our history. june 11 is the recognized state holiday. king kamehameha was born around 1758 and he unified the eighth hawaiian islands by 1810. he is also known as king kamehameha i. his birthday has been celebrated

for about 140 years in my state, beginning in 1871, by his great grandson, king kamehameha vv. the statute that you see -- kamehameha i. the statue that you see in the visitors center today also has a fascinating history. it was commissioned by the territory for -- by thomas gould, we weren't quite a territory yet. it was still a kingdom. and he finished it in 1880. it was made in italy. he was an american sculpture. the ship actually sank that was bringing the first kamehameha statue to hawaii. and in 1883 the second statue made its way to hawaii. what stands in emancipation hall today is molded of the second statue. that is the official statue that stands in front of what we call the home of the hawaii supreme

court. the first statue was discovered and stands in the big island which is the birth place of king kamehameha. as you look at the statue and i invite everyone to do that you will see that it stands approximately 8 1/2 feet tall, he has a helmet and a feather cape and they are made from very rare bird feathers. his left hand has a spear and that was his statement that he was ready to defend his kingdom. but his right hand is open in a gesture and that is to welcome people and that is what we call the gesture of of course aloha. lei draping is the customary celebration which will also happen on june 24 here. and what you see there is a tradition that has become almost uniquely hawaiian. lei is the way that we bond and

a lei draping is symbolic of the bonds that people have in hawaii and it is a very close and strong bond. the act of presenting a lei is something that many identify with hawaii as they come to visit our beautiful island. as we all know, the president is born in hawaii and on june 20, 2010, he issued proclamation 8534 in honor of the by centennial of -- bicentennial of the uniting of the islands by king kamehameha. this is what the president had to say in that proclamation. on this bicentennial king kamehameha day, we celebrate the history and heritage of the aloha state which has immeasurably enriched our nation , our national life and culture. the hawaiian narrative is one of both profound triumph and sadly

deep injustice. it is the story of native hawaiians oppressed by crippling diseases, and the event conquest of their sovereign -- eventual conquest of their sovereign kingdom. these milestones remind us of an unjust time in our history as well as the many pitfalls of our nation's long and difficult journey to perfect itself. yet through the peaks and valleys of our american story, hawaii's steadfast sense of community and mutual support shows the progress that results when we are united in a spirit of limitless possibilityless. this particular celebration is also very special for the people of hawaii. and i believe for members of this house as well. senator daniel will be retiring at the end of his term and as many of you are aware, he served

14 years in this house and the last 22 in the united states senate. he is the epitome of aloha. he is the epitome of everything that is good about hawaii. in honor of him i'd like to read a portion of what he said in the june, 2009, kamehameha lei draping ceremony here. because i think he gave a different perspective of king kamehameha that many of us do not know. he said, as a military leader and statesman, kamehameha was a brilliant visionary who pursued opportunities for progress. he pioneered military strategies that included unique flanking tactics and the use of cannons on the bow of his canoes. those revolutionary concepts enabled kamehameha to succeed in

battle and on principles recognized and taught to this day at west point. beyond his military accolades, kamehameha understood that if his people were going to thrive, they must be unified. through governance, kamehameha brought native hawaiians together and established an environment where they could perpetuate their heritage and way of life. under his leadership, the government strengthened its autonomy and self-sufficiency. these actions set the kingdom's framework for international commerce and diplomacy that brought peace and prosperity to his people. as we all know, the senator is the only native hawaiian who serves in the congress of the united states. it is very important for us to know that this person who became king kamehameha was very thoughtful, even in the days

that he was uniting the hawaiian islands. he is known in hawaii for the law of the splintered paddle, also called -- [speaking foreign language] . what he basically said was that we have a responsibility to protect civilians at the time of war. and that every human life was precious, it was wrong for the powerful to mistreat the weak. the context of this story is also very moving. someone didn't know who he was and actually hit him on the head with a paddle and of course it splintered and the idea when they found out that they had hit him, they all thought that their lives would come to an end. but instead he decreed the law of the splintered paddle. this is the visionary who united the hawaiian islands.

by this resolution we honor this great person and also all that makes hawaii special and unique. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from mississippi. mr. harper: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from hawaii. ms. hanabusa: mr. speaker, i yield the remainder -- 10 minutes to the gentleman from american samoa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from american samoa is recognized. mr. faleomavaega: mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of house concurrent resolution 105, to authorize the use of the emancipation hall in the capitol

visitors center for the rlei draping ceremony on june 24 of this year to celebrate the birthday of the great warrior king, king kamehameha. i want to thank my colleagues for their leadership and to all the members of the hawaiian congressional delegation for their support on this important legislation. i also want to take this opportunity to commend my good friend, senator daniel, for his stewardship on this and many other issues befitting the people of hawaii. the senator has been an integral part of the lei-draping ceremony for the past 36 years. and it is befitting that his outstanding service and dedication to the people of hawaii will be recognized in next month's ceremony. mr. speaker, for more than 40 years the hawaiian congressional delegation and the hawaii state society in washington, d.c., has hosted lei-draping ceremony in the second week of june to

coincide with the celebration of king kamehameha day in the state of hawaii. because of the king kamehameha statue moved to the emans situation of the u.s. capitol visitor center, it now requires the enactment of a congressional resolution to authorize this annual celebration, hence house concurrent resolution 105 that is being considered before the house for today. mr. speaker, for some 2,000 years the hawaiian islands existed under some tremendous rivalries among the warring chiefs, among the native hawaiians. after almost 10 years of fighting, king kamehameha brought all of the hawaiian islands under one rule, thus fulfilling an ancient prophecy that one day a high chief will be born and will defeat the chiefs of the other islands and thereby bring all the islands, the eight hawaiian islands, under one rule. mr. speaker, king kamehameha, while a mountain of a man, he was only about 6'8", 6'8" tall,

weighed about 300 pounds, and a great warrior of many feats, perhaps he's better known for his foresight and the peace and stability he brought to the hawaiian islands. he was shrewd in building prosperity for his people, by encouraging agricultural development and promoting commercial trade with the european countries and even with the united states. while he was open to new ideas, he was caught in circumstances -- in circumspect the old ways. it was said before the unification of the hawaiian islands in 1782, king kamehameha , during a raid, came across two unarmed fishermen and as he attempted to slay the fishermen for no reason his foot was caught between the two rocks. by defending themselves, the two fishermen immediately hit king kamehameha on the head with a large paddle and broke the paddle and left him for dead.

king kamehameha survived and for some 12 years later the fishermen were caught and brought before the king. rather than seeking revenge, he sent them gifts. king kamehameha is known as the law of the splintered paddle or mamalohoe. the law of the splindered paddle which has become the basis of many modern rights human rights regarding men and women and children which are not to be harmed when traveling among the roadside. during his time, king kamehameha strived the sovereignty of his people. he did not allow non-hawaiian people to own their lands. this became the height of the colonialism.

mr. speaker, i submit to you and to my colleagues and to the american people that the native hawaiian king kamehameha was one of the greatest warrior chiefs who ever lived among the poll nearbyian people. for anyone that ever visited the hawaiiian islands, now the 50th state of our nation, just think during the late 1700's with the fleet of some 900 war canoes and with some 20,000 warriors embarked upon one of the greatest feats in military history to unite the hawaiiian islands under kamehameha's rule which took almost 10 years to achieve. after 100 years, his descendents ruled the hawaiian islands. king kamehameha indeed was a true warrior of the first order. he was a master of the ancient hawaiian martial arts, we call it among samoans as liamalama.

he had a stone which only weighed 4,500 pounds, kamehameha moved the stone, again, with the prophecy that whoever was able to move the stone would rule the hawaiian islands. kamehameha fulfilled that prophecy. of interest also, mr. speaker, king kamehameha's military tactics are still being studied at our west point military academy in new york. he is a master surfer. the surf boards weighed over 100 pounds. can you imagine the 6'8" mansur ofing with a board that's about 100 pounds in weight? another famous ancient hawaiian sport was to jump off the high cliffs, just to jump in the ocean. but one of the sports that king kamehameha was very famous for, specialized in, was the idea that three spears will be thrown at you and what he would

do is he would let two spears pass you, then he would carry two spears, catch the other two spears and try that, mr. speaker, and see if you might be able to do this. the bottom line, mr. speaker, i want to thank the gentlelady from hawaii, ms. hanabusa, for her sponsorship of this legislation. let's pass house concurrent resolution 105, and i thank my friend from mississippi for his assistance in managing this bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from mississippi is recognized. mr. harper: i'm prepared to close. i urge my colleagues to support this legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from hawaii is recognized. ms. hanabusa: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers. however, i had he like to first of all thank the gentleman from mississippi for managing -- i'd like to first thank the gentleman from mississippi for managing this bill and bringing it the floor. speaker boehner, chairman

lungren for allowing this to come forward as well. the capitol police and all others who will assist in this matter and, of course, the people of hawaii. mr. speaker, i hope that we'll pass this measure and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 105. those in favor say aye. those opposed say no. in the opinion of the chair, the -- 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the concurrent resolution is -- ms. hanabusa: mr. speaker, we'll request a recorded vote on this measure, please. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman requests the yeas and nays? ms. hanabusa: yes. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from washington seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask that the house suspend the rules and pass h.con.res 106. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 106, concurrent resolution authorizing the use of the capitol grounds for the greater washington soap box derby. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from washington, ms. herrera butler, and the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. norton, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from washington.

ms. herrera butteler: i ask unanimous consent that -- ms. herrera beutler: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to revise and extend on house concurrent resolution 106. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. herrera beutler: h.con.res 106 will authorize the use of the capitol grounds for the greater washington soapbox derby on june 16, 2012. and this event occurs annually on the capitol grounds. the soapbox derby allows children to show off their creativity and hard work. as someone who participated in derbies myself, this is a good bill. the winners of each division are then qualified to compete in the national soapbox derby, and are excited. i urge my colleagues to support passage of this resolution and with that i yield back the balance of my time. excuse me. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time.

the gentlelady from washington, d.c., ms. norton. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. norton: i'm delighted to support house resolution 106 which authorizes use of the capitol grounds for the greater washington soapbox derby. once again, on june 16, 2012. i'd also like to offer my appreciation to the majority and to acknowledge the efforts of mr. hoyer who has been a consistent champion for his constituents in this event and the entire delegation from this region who supports this event every year. on the day of the event, children and young adults in the greater washington area will race down constitutional avenue to test their craftsmanship and hand design and constructively soapbox vehicles in the annual soapbox

derby. children between the ages of 8 and 17 will be competing for the opportunity to race in the national all-american soapbox derby held every august in akron, ohio, consistent with all events, using the capitol grounds, this event is open to the public and free of charge. the organizers will work with the capitol police and the architects of the capitol to organize the details of the event. i strongly support concurrent resolution resolution 106 and urge passage of this resolution. i reserve the balance of my time, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. the gentlelady from washington is recognized. ms. herrera beutler: i thought that was compelling, mr. speaker, and i'm very excited that we're going to hear next from the gentleman who has been a big champion of the soapbox derby for many moons now and with that i will continue to reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady continues to reserve the balance of her time.

the gentlelady from the district of columbia is recognized. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i am pleased to -- i am pleased to recognize now mr. hoyer for such time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. hoyer: i thank the representative from washington, d.c., for yielding to me and the distinguished lady, ms. norton. i want to thank my friend, congressman herrera from washington state who chairs the subcommittee and thank her very much for facilitating this coming to the floor and thank her very much for her kind remarks as well. mr. speaker, i'm pleased to call you mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of this resolution which i am proud to sponsor and i have sponsored for many, many years. this resolution allows the greater washington soapbox derby association to hold its 71st annual greater washington soapbox derby on the capitol grounds on june 16. this is i think everybody who

has been involved with soapbox derby knows it's a wonderful tradition that brings together young people from around the area to the capitol for a fun and educational event. it's taken place since 1958 when norman rocca won the inaugural race, bettsing 223 other contestants as his soapbox racer crossed the finish line. that race has continued for over the years and inspired many of the regions to learn physics among gravity racing and designing soapbox racers. as a nation that wants to make things, as the speaker knows, i have a make it in america agenda that i keep trying to sell that is bipartisan. i think all of us agree that we want to make more things in america. if we're going to make more things in america and be able to export them, we have to have people that make things. what a wonderful opportunity

this is for young people to participate in making something that will then have them be successful or in this sense in the race make it, win the race. so i think this is a wonderful enterprise. it brings young people together with their parents and teachers, sportsmanship, and teaches sportsmanship, hard work and pride of accomplishment. america's soapbox derbies have been called, and i quote, the greatest amateur racing event in the world. and we continue celebrating that tradition june 16 here in washington. the spirit of competition that fuels these racers is the same spirit that has long energized our nation's entrepreneurs and innovators. the young people who participate in these derbies are often sponsored by groups from their communities who recognize in them great promise for the future. i continue to be incredibly proud of this for maryland, fifth district, who participate, but indeed from

the district of columbia, virginia, surrounding areas, we've celebrating a number of soapbox derby champions from the fifth district, including the winners from 2007, 2008 and 2009. now, we broke our string but maybe we'll get it back but everybody is a winner. the winners in 2007 and 2008, casey raider, and courtney rail, respectively, went on to win the national championship. i want to thank those members who have co-sponsored this resolution. my good friends from our area, not only ms. norton who has been one of our leaders, but also representative connelly, donna edwards, chris van hollen and frank wolf. i thank my dear friend from washington state for her leadership on this and my colleague and fellow washington area representative, we're a team on this, and i want to thank ms. norton for her

extraordinary leadership. not only for the district of columbia, but of our region and on so many important issues to this country and i thank her for yielding and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from washington state is recognized. ms. herrera beutler: i continue to reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington reserves her time. the gentlelady from the district of columbia, ms. norton. ms. norton: i appreciate, mr. speaker, the bipartisanship of this bill, to my good friend, the minority whip from maryland, i can only say the championship that your own district brought back is enough to make us think that our area teams might one day have a championship. we know this, students construct these soapboxing themselves. i mean, this is your stem leaders still to come, the engineers of the future. i have no further speakers, and i appreciate all of the support

of our good friends on the other side and yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentlelady from washington state is recognized. ms. herrera beutler: mr. speaker, i ask my colleagues to support passage of this resolution and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 106. those in favor say aye. those opposed say no the rules are suspended and the concurrent resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4097. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number

319, h.r. 4097, a bill to amend the john f. kennedy center act to authorize appropriations for the john f. kennedy center for the performing arts and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. mica, and the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. norton, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. mica: thank you, mr. speaker. first of all, i'd ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on h.r. 4097. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mica: mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mica: thank you, mr. speaker. my colleagues today, i'm pleased to stand before you and offer for consideration of the house h.r. 4097, which would re-authorize the john f. kennedy center through 2014.

everyone knows the kennedy center, it is one of the most outstanding national treasures that we have, cultural treasures , in our capitol city. and i'm pleased to be the sponsor of this -- what i consider important legislation for several reasons. first of all, in congress we get to do some exciting things, as chair of the transportation and infrastructure committee, within our committee, we have six subcommittees and one does oversee public buildings and we've had a lot of public consternation and rightfully so with some of our public buildings programs under the general services administration, that was home last week, everybody in america recalls the guy in the hot tub thumbing his nose at congress and the taxpayers. and that's a bad example of

behavior and wasteful expenditures of taxpayers' dollars. but i'm pleased to be here to say that there are many in government that do have programs that are very beneficial for the country. and one is the kennedy center. what an incredible institution. as the chairman of the transportation and infrastructure committee, i get to sit on their board of trustees, i've actually gone that their meetings, and see how they operate. most people don't know but most of their programs are funded through private donations. not through public donations. although the building does stay under the responsibility of the federal government. a lot of folks don't know a lot about the history of the kennedy center. the kennedy center, and i learned this being on the board, was actually an idea of a

republican president. dwight david eisenhower in the 1950's was determined to create a national cultural center in our nation's capital. this center was the idea and the genesis of one of our presidents, probably most people don't know that. i learned that in the rededication of the eisenhower theater, within the kennedy center, after many years it was renovated, again, mostly through public -- i'm sorry, mostly through private funds and donations and actually saw an old clip of president eisenhower when he came up with a plan for a national cultural center. subsequently after that of course we had the assassination of our beloved president kennedy in 1964. they began work in 1971. they actually opened the center

and named it the kennedy center in honor of our late president. but a little bit about the history. i'm also excited about this proposal because this legislation authorizes one of the first addition i know of, i know we've done some repairs and some renovations, but we're talking about an addition to the kennedy center and it's going to be funded with private money. only private funds will be raised for this. it's exciting to see a public-private partnership and the great leadership of the kennedy center. i have to to pay a little better tribute to michael kaiser, the president. this guy works day and night to make everything happen at the kennedy center and he of course reports to the board, the chairman of the board is david rubenseen it, and he does a magnificent job corraling some

of the leaders of our nation, those in business and free enterprise come in, and through their donation support the kennedy center. it's incredible, washington, d.c., programs, it truly has made the nation's capital a center of -- a program for a whole host of cultural activities. dance and theater and symphony music and the list goes on and on. and many people across the nation get to see it in their loan live -- own living rooms. they don't always gl get to come to our nation's capital but we see those performances that are televised. so it is a rich part of our nation's capital and certainly a rich part of our nation's culture, which we are now seeing for the first time an addition. this addition will support the center's educational mission and that's very important. be a benefit again both for washington, d.c., our nation's capital, and for the nation and

internationally they have programs today. the purpose of the expansion is to provide improved facilities of the kennedy center, by adding approximately 56,000 square feet of space per classrooms -- for classrooms, rehearsal rooms, event spaces and offices. and for the first time they'll have a dedicated area for educational purposes, as i've outlined, other rehearsals and other functions and activities and things that don't fit into some of the theater and some of the existing facilities that they have already in the main building. so, the expansion will permit the center to address its growing needs and provide greater accessibility for the center's programs and performances for the general public. so i'm pretty excited about this proposal. most people don't know we worked some years, 15 years, on the visitors center, we also were

raising funds and part of the construction of that visitors center was raising funds privately. most people wouldn't know that the author of the visitors center was newt gingrich, the former speaker of the house, who made an agreement that half the funds would be raised privately for that visitors center here at the capitol and also some public funds. of course all that changed with september 11, when the capitol was attacked and our nation was attacked and we had to make some dramatic changes in that whole funding and security issues that were raised there. but like the visitors center, we are raising funds. this is totally, again, the private sector that is building this facility and great addition to the kennedy center.

so with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from the district of columbia, ms. norton, is recognized. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the kennedy center, a presidential memorial, is one of the nation's busiest arts facilities. presenting more than 2,000 performances annually and hosting thousands of theatergoers, visitors and tourists. in fact it is considered by many to be the greatest performing arts center in the world. the kennedy center also provides educational programs for both teachers and students, from prekindergarten through college, across the united states. h.r. 4097 is a bipartisan bill that authorizes the kennedy center for a total of $36 million for fiscal years 2013 and 2014, for maintenance repair and capital projects only. these authorization levels have

derived from the kennedy center's 2001 exre commence -- comprehensive building plan and the fund something being helped flat for the fiscal year 2013 and 2014. the bill also authorizes the kennedy septemberer to construct a 100,000 square foot addition for educational programs using no federal funds and with the same restrictions of naming rights on the rest of the building. in addition to the federal -- to the kennedy center's responsibility to run a national program promoting the arts, it is first and foremost a presidential memorial and we have a responsibility to fund its maintenance, consistent with the dignity of a presidential memorial. this memorial remains a fitting tribute to president john f. kennedy and i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting h.r. 4097. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. mica: i have no further speakers at this time aunderstand reserve to close -- and i reserve to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from the connecticut connecticut is recognized. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i'm a co-sponsor this bill but i am pleased to note that the kennedy center had gone very national and it has taken not only its own programs nationally but it aids arts programs throughout the united states. it raises its own funds. but of course even if this weren't a presidential memorial, it is very hard to raise private funds for maintenance and repair of a memorial in washington. so i i think that the flat funding for 2013 and 2014 is more than justified and i'd like to commend president michael kaiser, yes, and the board of trustees, once again, on the art service it's, the cultural

services they are bringing across the nation as well as to the nation's capital. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. mica: thank you, mr. speaker. and again i thought i had done this but i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.r. 4097. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mica: so the clerk has that. in closing again i think this is a very significant piece of legislation that does authorize the first addition to -- that i know of, to the kennedy center. not only does it do that, it does it with the whole expansion being done with private funds, but we do have to authorize that, again, the federal government is the custodian and trustee of the center. also i think this bill is

brought forward in a fiscally responsible approach for maintaining the facility and we authorized the capital repair and -- capitol repair and maintenance program at the requested level and also in a reduction from current spending levels. so whether it's the cultural center of the nation, the kennedy center, and all other government programs, either partially funded like this or publicly funded, week of got to do more with less tax pair --pair money -- taxpayer money in a responsible fashion. this legislation does that and i'm pleased to offer it for consideration of the house. i yield back the balance of my time. and urge my colleagues to support passage of this measure. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4097. those in favor say aye.

those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rule is suspend, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.con.res. 117. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 117. concurrent resolution authorizing the use of the capitol grounds for the national peace officers memorial service. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. denham, and the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. norton, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. denham: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.con.res. 117.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. denham: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. denham: h.con.res. 117 would authorize the use of the capitol grounds for the national peace officers memorial service on may 15, 2012. i'm pleased to be a sponsor of this important resolution. in 1962, may 15 was designated by president kennedy as peace officers' memorial day and the week in which it falls as police week. the memorial service began in 1982 as a gathering in senate park of just 120 survivors and supporters of law enforcement. today national police week draws tens of thousands of law enforcement officials -- officials and their supporters from around the world who travel to the nation's capitol to participate in events that honor our fallen officers. the national peace officers' memorial service, which is sponsored by the grand lodge of the from a term order of police, is one in a series of events which includes the candlelight vigil and seminars.

they honor the sacrifice of men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice. back home in my district we felt the pain of losing deputy robert parrish. he was slained in the line of duty just a few weeks ago. he was the third sworn officer to be killed while serving with the stanislaus county sheriff's department. he was known in the community to have requested dangerous work. when any community loses an officer it's a tragedy, both for the family and for those lives benefited from their service. he is survived by his parents and sister, brother and two children. by passing this legislation, we will be honoring deputy parrish and all those who came before him. i urge my colleagues to support passage of this resolution and i reserve the balance of my

time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. norton: house concurrent resolution 117 authorizes use of the capitol grounds for the 31st annual national peace officers' memorial service on may 15 on the west front of the capitol. it's a respectful public event at our nation's capitol honoring our heroic law enforcement officers who were killed in the line of duty in 2011. according to the national law enforcement officers' memorial fund, last year, 173 brave men and women were killed in the line of duty. unfortunately, however, the number of officers killed in the line of duty increased 13% from 2010 with this year marking the first time in 14 years where more officers died from firearms-related incidents

than from traffic-related incidents. over 19,000 law enforcement officers had been killed while on duty since the first law enforcement death was recorded in 1791. the national peace officers' memorial service is a fitting tribute to the 900,000 concurrent law enforcement officers and all federal, state and local peace officers who give their lives in the daily work of protecting our families, our homes and our workplaces. we honor these officers and their families on capitol grounds for both their service and the ultimate snoice that some pay to maintain peace in communities across -- sacrifice that some pay to maintain peace in communities across america. the memorial service will be free and open to the public. i support the resolution and

urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this tribute to our fallen peace officers. mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. denham: mr. speaker, i will close. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i have no further speakers, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. denham: thank you, mr. speaker. these important events help us to honor and remember the sacrifice of the members of law enforcement around our nation that have made this ultimate sacrifice and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 117. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i request -- the speaker pro tempore: in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: 2/3

having responded in the affirmative -- the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the anne. -- by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. denham: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.con.res 118. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 118, authorizing the use of the capitol grounds for the district of columbia special olympics law enforcement torch run. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. denham, and the gentlewoman from the district of columbia, ms. norton, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. denham: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on

h.con.res 118. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. denham: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. denham: house -- h.con.res 118 would authorize the use of the capitol grounds for the district of columbia special olympics law enforcement torch run that that will be held on june 1, 2012. the torch run will be launched from the west end of the capital and continue through the capitol grounds to go to the summer games. the special olympics is an international organization dedicated to lifting the lives of men and women with disabilities. it began in 1981 when the police chief of wichita, kansas, saw the need to increase awareness of the special olympics. the torch run was then quickly adopted by the international association of chiefs of police. today, the torch run is a is the largest grassroots efforts

that raises funds and awareness to the special olympics program. the event in d.c. is one of many law enforcement torch runs throughout the country and across 35 nations. i ask my colleagues to support passage of this resolution and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from the district of columbia is recognized. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. norton: mr. speaker, this year marks the 27th annual law enforcement torch run to benefit the district of columbia's special olympics. the torch relay then is a traditionally then organized by law enforcement personnel for the d.c. special olympics which takes place at catholic university later this month. this event has become a popular event on capitol hill and is an integral part of the fundraising efforts for the d.c. special olympics, raising thousands of funds through their own sale of t-shirts.

torch run participants will assemble at the u.s. capitol building on june 1, 2012, for opening ceremonies and then proceed to run or walk a 2.3-mile course. each year approximately 2,500 special olympians compete in over a dozen events in the district of columbia and more than one million children and adults with special needs participate in special olympics worldwide. the goal of the competition is to allow mentally challenged individuals to participate in events where they are accepted and respected. confidence and self-esteem are the building blocks of the special olympic games. special olympics of the district of columbia have been operating for 43 years and providing services to a wide swath of d.c. residents. all programs offered through

special -- to special olympic athletes is always free of charge. i am truly and personally pleased to support such a worthwhile organization and i urge members of the house to support house concurrent resolution 118 as well. i reserve the balance of my time. mr. denham: the gentlelady reserves her time. -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves her time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. denham: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from the district of columbia is recognized. ms. norton: mr. speaker, i have no more speakers and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the remainder of her time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. denham: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to house concurrent resolution 118. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the

table. mr. denham: mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass senate bill 1302. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 1302, an act to authorize the administrator of general services to convey a parcel of real property in tracy, california, to the city of tracy. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. issa, and the gentlewoman from

the district of columbia, ms. norton, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. i recognize myself for such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. issa: thank you. i ask that he can that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. issa: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, senate bill 1302 would direct the general service administration to sell 150 acres of land in tracy, california, to the city of tracy for not less than its appraised market value. the property is undeveloped land which was once under the custody and control of the federal government. however, the federal government maintains no retain -- retains no interest in the property and has no use or restrictions. though 3% -- three separate

pieces of legislation enacted since 1999, congress has conveyed the 150 acres to the city of tracy and restricted its use of the land to educational and recreational uses only. over the past decade, the city of tracy has determined that these uses are no longer feasible and would like to utilize the land for an economic development adding to its base and to the welfare of the citizens of tracy. in fact, the city expects significant commercial interests in the property and is optimistic that future development on the land will create hundreds of much-needed jobs. senate 1302 would remove all restrictions currently imposed on the property by congress and would transfer complete ownership of the land to the federal government -- from the federal government to the city of fracey. additionally, the legislation -- city of tracy. additionally, the legislation

disposes of unneeded property, something that mr. denham, who is with me today, has been very active in. as we look at the bill passed by the senate in august of last year, i believe we see a win-win. the federal government takes a piece of land that has no further interest in and has through congressional act in the past locked it up for specific use not likely to occur and we received full market value, full fair market value for the property. this is the way federal land in excess should be disposed of, sold at fair market value or above and be put in good use. in this case by the city of tracy. i urge support of this and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from the district of columbia is recognized. ms. norton: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. norton: i rise in support of this important legislation that would result in the

efficient disposal of a parcel of federal real property fought city of tracy, california -- to the city of tracy, california. the city of tracy with the population of 80,000 has been hard hit by economic recession. unemployment in and around tracy stood at 16.2% a year ago, a level far higher than the national average. the people of tracy are looking for every available avenue to revive their economy, have found such a stimulus in the potential construction of a solar field. congress can assist tracy in its economic recovery by supporting s. 1302. that bill authorizes the city of tracy to purchase without restriction 150 acres of federal land previously conveyed by congress for a specific public benefit use. the city would pay the federal government fair market value for the release of